Congress summons CEO of Discord, Twitch, Reddit to testify online radicalization

The House Oversight Committee has requested that the CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Reddit, and gaming platform Steam testify on October 8 about their platforms’ alleged involvement in any online “radicalization” and the “incitement to commit politically motivated acts,” according to letters sent from the House committee to the four tech CEOs. 

In a statement, Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, referenced the murder of Charlie Kirk and “other acts of politically motivated violence” as reasons why Congress has a “duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence,” he said. 

“To prevent future radicalization and violence, the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit must appear before the Oversight Committee and explain what actions they will take to ensure their platforms are not exploited for nefarious purposes.” 

TechCrunch reached out to the companies summoned.

Discord told TechCrunch it looked forward to testifying in October.

“We continuously engage with policymakers on these critical issues and look forward to continuing this important dialogue next month,” a spokesperson said.

Reddit, meanwhile, told Reuters it was investigating the link between its platform and Kirk’s death, saying it hasn’t yet seen proof that the suspect in Kirk’s death was an active Reddit user. The company told the outlet that it “has strong policies against hateful content and content that incites, encourages, glorifies or calls for violence.”

Kirk was a prominent conservative activist and a close ally of President Trump. Suspect Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident, has been arrested for shooting and killing Kirk last week while Kirk spoke at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Robinson appeared to have confessed to committing the crime in a chat on Discord shortly before his arrest. The bullets used were also apparently engraved with memes and references to video games. 

This piece was updated to add a statement from Discord’s spokesperson.