Rep. Jim Jordan Pressures Microsoft on Censorship and Its ‘Aggressive Acquisition Strategy’

Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to Microsoft president Brad Smith today, seeking answers on the company’s attitude towards conservatives, and on whether the company will be impacted by proposed new regulations on antitrust.

Rep. Jordan noted that the Democrats did not “significantly examine” Microsoft’s conduct during antitrust investigations, in contrast to other tech giants. The letter, which questions Microsoft on a range of issues including content moderation on Microsoft-owned Linkedin and censorship of user content on COVID-19, can be read in full here.

“Big Tech, including Microsoft, Inc., is out to get conservatives. Despite Microsoft’s size and market dominance, House Democrats curiously did not significantly examine Microsoft’s conduct during their investigation of competition in digital markets. Democrats also seem to have excluded Microsoft from scrutiny in their large package of bills to radically rewrite American antitrust law. We write to request more information about these matters.”

“Over the last three decades, Microsoft has acquired over 200 companies. At almost $2 trillion, Microsoft’s current market valuation is second only to Apple, Inc. among American companies. Microsoft has a commanding position in various markets. Among the office suite market, for instance, Microsoft has captured an estimated 87.5 percent of the market. As Democrats have excluded Microsoft from antitrust scrutiny, commentators have noted how Microsoft has taken advantage of the circumstances to pursue an aggressive acquisition strategy.”

“It is unclear why Microsoft has avoided significant attention from House Democrats. The Democrats’ investigation excluded Microsoft from significant oversight and the Democrats’ recently introduced bills include a definition of a ‘covered platform’ that could be read to exclude Microsoft. In fact, Rep. David Cicilline, the lead Democrat drafter of these bills, told Bloomberg that ‘it would be up to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to make that determination.'”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.