Twitter is refusing to hand over its internal Slack messages to the January 6 House Committee, report says

• Twitter is refusing to give its internal messages to the January 6 Committee, per Rolling Stone.
• The committee wants Twitter's Slack messages about how it moderates content about the Capitol attack.

Twitter is refusing a request from the January 6 House Committee for the company's internal communications, including Slack messages about how it moderated Tweets about the riot at the Capitol, according to a new report from Rolling Stone, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

According to the outlet, Twitter is asserting a First Amendment privilege in response to the request, which has "caused consternation among the committee."

The outlet reported that those on the committee believe the chat logs will help show an accurate picture of how pro-Trump extremism contributed to the Capitol attack.

The news comes as the first of the committee's six primetime hearings is scheduled to begin on Thursday and as anticipation builds around what will be revealed in the public testimonies.

The committee previously subpoenaed top executives and founders of social media giants such as Twitter, Meta, and Google's parent company Alphabet in August, to determine how they stewarded their platforms as misinformation about the 2020 election ran rampant ahead of the Capitol attack.

But the committee later said the companies' responses were "inadequate" and asked them to provide more records.

"It's disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions," committee Chair Bennie Thompson said in January.

Requests such as these have raised questions as to how far the government can — and should — reach when compelling social media companies to provide records and testify in an investigation of national interest.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Twitter said: "Since last year, we have had an ongoing, productive engagement with the Select Committee, and have provided appropriate, relevant information to contribute to this important investigation."

It added that it is "committed to continuing this work with the Select Committee" and takes a "principled approach to responding to requests for information from governments, and will continue to closely evaluate the merits of each request" to protect the rights of its users, the company, and its employees.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.