{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-probes-potential-meta-cooperation-with-iranian-government", "Cotton Probes Potential Meta Cooperation with Iranian Government", "2022-09-29", "2022", "2022-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler orJames Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nSeptember 29, 2022\n\nCotton Probes Potential Meta Cooperation with Iranian Government\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding the company\u2019s alleged cooperation with Iran in suppressing dissent from the Iranian people. The letter cites news reports that one of Meta\u2019s subsidiaries, Instagram, may have sided with Iran\u2019s leaders and removed documentation of the regime\u2019s violent crushing of peaceful protests. The letter asked Zuckerberg to confirm whether any of Meta\u2019s companies or subsidiaries censored any information of the protests and whether any Meta employees or subsidiaries accepted bribes from anyone affiliated with the Iranian government.\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nSeptember 28, 2022\n\nMark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer\n\nMeta Platforms, Inc.\n\n1 Hacker Way\n\nMenlo Park, CA 94025\n\nDear Mr. Zuckerberg,\n\nNews reports indicate that at least one of your company\u2019s subsidiaries, Instagram, may have removed documentation of the Iranian regime\u2019s vicious attempts to crush recent peaceful protests. This is particularly concerning given prior allegations that Iran attempted to bribe your content moderators to remove accounts that challenged or criticized the Iranian regime. As the CEO, founder, and majority shareholder, you are ultimately responsible for Meta\u2019s actions. Please respond to the following questions no later than October 3, 2022:\n\n1.Did Instagram or any other Meta company (including Whatsapp) remove any images or videos of the protests or restrict accounts sharing information about the protests?\n\na.Was any such censorship conducted at the request of the Iranian government?\n\n2.Have any employees of Meta or its subcontractors received or accepted bribes or other payments from any representative or proxy of the Iranian government?\n\n3.Did anyone in your organization or any third-party content moderator responsible for removing information about the protests receive any bribes or other payments from Iranian intelligence services?\n\n4.Is it the official position of Meta or any of its subsidiaries to support or cooperate with dictatorships and violent extremist regimes?\n\n5.What specific steps are you taking to reestablish the accounts that were deleted or disabled during the ongoing protests?\n\n6.What specific steps are you taking to ensure that protestors in Iran continue to have access to your products as they showcase the truth about the Iranian regime?\n\nI look forward to your prompt and detailed responses.\n\nSincerely,\n\n_____________________\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:08:33Z"]], "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://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-probes-potential-meta-cooperation-with-iranian-government"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7811679970473051, "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"}