A top Republican in the House of Representatives on Sunday called for an extortion investigation into major tech companies that took action this weekend against Parler, a social media website.
“This is clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the RICO statute. An extortion investigation must be done on all the people who coordinated this attack, not just on a company, but on everyone like us, like me, like you, Maria, ”Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), The rank member on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ host Maria Bartiromo.
After Twitter banned President Donald Trump and some other users, Parler saw traffic explode. However, Google soon announced that it had removed Parler from its online store, followed one step by Apple. Then Amazon announced that it was discontinuing Parler from its web hosting services.
Parler CEO John Matze told The Epoch Times that his company is willing to take legal action, but in the meantime, authorities should investigate the possible coordinated actions, Nunes argued.
“The effect of this is that there is no longer a free and open social media company or site that an American can access any longer,” he said, as Amazon, Google and Apple just destroyed Parler.
‘It’s ridiculous. So I don’t know where the Justice Department is right now, or the FBI, ”he added.
Nunes also said the CEOs of the companies should be prosecuted. He also said he has spoken to fellow members of Congress and they are investigating their legal options. And he also called on the Supreme Court and federal judges to step in and intervene.
The Justice Department, Apple, Google and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.