The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Alphabet Inc. and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, as part of an ongoing investigation into major tech companies' interactions with the Biden administration. The subpoena, issued on Thursday, demands documents related to any communication between Pichai, Alphabet, and the previous administration, with Republicans arguing that these exchanges may have played a role in censoring Americans’ speech.

The committee has set a deadline of March 28 for Alphabet to provide the requested documents, which specifically focus on content moderation, suppression, deletion, and circulation restrictions. Google spokesperson José Castañeda responded, stating that the company remains committed to enforcing its policies independently while upholding free expression.

Previously released documents have revealed that the Biden administration urged tech companies, including Meta, to remove posts related to COVID-19 that officials considered misinformation. While the administration saw this as a public health measure, Republicans claim it was an attempt to silence conservative voices.

The committee is particularly interested in internal discussions within Google and YouTube regarding their communications with the Biden administration. Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan emphasized that these documents are crucial for shaping potential legislation that could limit the executive branch’s ability to collaborate with tech firms to moderate content and deplatform users.

Pichai, along with other high-profile tech leaders like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, raising speculation about a possible shift in conservatives’ stance toward Big Tech at the time. However, this latest subpoena indicates that Republican lawmakers remain committed to scrutinizing tech companies, especially concerning allegations of conservative speech suppression. In addition to Alphabet, the Judiciary Committee recently sent subpoenas to other major companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and X Corp., seeking details about their interactions with foreign governments.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Bloomberg.