{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-lauren-boebert-introduces-elon-act-audit-government-collusion-big-tech", "Rep. Lauren Boebert Introduces the ELON Act to Audit Government Collusion with Big Tech Censorship", "2023-02-09", "2023", "2023-02", "Republican", "House", "CO", "Lauren Boebert", "B000825", "boebert.house.gov", "boebert", "https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Congresswoman Lauren Boebert introduced the Exposing Lewd Outlays for social Networking companies Act, or the ELON Act, to audit government collusion with big tech to censor Americans. The ELON Act also places a one-year moratorium on any payments going from the FBI to big tech companies.\n\nCongresswoman Lauren Boebert stated, \u201cBig tech is in bed with the FBI and other agencies to the point where Congress can\u2019t tell where one ends and the other begins. The millions of dollars sent to Twitter that we know of during an election cycle, when they were at the same time censoring the Hunter Biden laptop from hell, is incredibly concerning. My bill, the ELON Act, requires a report from all agencies on federal dollars sent to big tech companies. My legislation also places a one-year moratorium on tax dollars going to big tech companies. We must expose the incestuous relationship between big tech and the federal government. My bill does exactly that.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nThe Twitter files exposed the collusion between Big Tech and the Department of Justice. It confirmed shady content moderation practices including the blacklisting of conservatives, censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story as misinformation to influence the 2020 election, and the revolving door of personnel from the FBI to Twitter HQ before the platform was purchased by Elon Musk last year.\n\nLate last year, Michael Shellenberger reported internal emails at Twitter with the subject line \u201cRun the business- we made money!\u201d This email informed then-Twitter Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker that the FBI paid Twitter $3,415,323.00 between October 2019 and February 2021.\n\nThe FBI confirmed the nearly $3.5 million payment to Twitter was a \u201creimbursement\u201d for the \u201creasonable costs and expenses associated with their response to a legal process\u2026 For complying with legal requests, and a standard procedure.\u201d FBI officials also stated that Twitter isn't the only social media company that is being paid by the federal agency, stating \u201cWe don\u2019t just reimburse Twitter.\u201d\n\nAfter this information was reported, Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk tweeted, \u201cGovernment paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public.\n\nAmerican tax dollars should not be used to stifle the First Amendment. Congress must investigate when and why the FBI was paying off Big Tech platforms. The ELON Act works to find the answers to these questions and put an end to this corrupt practice.\n\nThe Exposing Lewd Outlays for social Networking companies Act, or the ELON Act, requires the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report on all payments made by the Department of Justice since January 1, 2015, to Twitter, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Apple. This report will be submitted to the House Committees on Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Intelligence as wel as the Senate Committees on Judiciary, Commerce, and Intelligence.\n\nThe ELON Act also places a one-year moratorium on the Department of Justice from making any new payments to these companies.\n\nRep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01), Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-09), Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15), Rep. Eric Burlison (MO-07), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Andrew Clyde (GA-09), Barry Moore (AL-02), and Rep. Troy Nehls (TX-22) cosponsored the ELON Act.\n\nThe ELON Act is supported by the American Principles Project and Citizens for Renewing America.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:18:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-lauren-boebert-introduces-elon-act-audit-government-collusion-big-tech"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.088316086679697, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}