Senior House Republicans say that, left by Democrats with few other options, their party is entertaining the idea of breaking up Big Tech companies like Facebook in the hope of countering what they say is consistently unfair censorship of conservatives on social media.

I do think there is an appetite amongst Republicans, if the Democrats wanted to try to break up Big Tech, I think there is support for that," said Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida.

Steube said that Republicans have no other options" because Democrats have stymied all other actions for holding social media platforms accountable.

I think something needs to be done to show these Big Tech companies they can't run over people and censor them, said Steube, a member of the House Oversight Committee.

Early last week, Steube and the top House Oversight Committee Republican, James Comer of Kentucky, asked the Democratic chairwoman of the committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, to investigate Facebook and Twitter for their role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, alongside social media platform Parler.

The Republicans say they have been rebuffed so far.

Maloney and I speak on the phone every week, and I keep bringing our Parler letter up, Comer told the Washington Examiner. "And we've got nothing. No response yet from her."

Comer said that he was among several Republicans who had been driven to considering breaking up tech companies because of the lack of support from Democrats in battling unfair social media censorship.

"We've got a problem with Big Tech right now. My constituency is concerned about Big Tech. So we've got to do something, Comer said.

A majority of Republicans now favor the government regulating social media giants and breaking up Big Tech, according to a poll released Thursday.

Comer said he wanted to have a committee hearing to discuss the increasing censorship on social media outlets and the possibility of breaking up these platforms. Democrats have the power to schedule hearings.

Prominent Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline have aggressively supported breaking up Big Tech companies.

Comer and Steube said that the Demcorats' all-or-nothing stance has forced Republicans into the position of considering breaking up firms.

If we can't get our bills done, and the Democrats bring a bill to break up Big Tech to the floor, I wouldn't be surprised if they would have bipartisan support, said Steube.

Republicans, who generally say they oppose government intervention in private businesses, say that the drastic increase in online censorship in the past few weeks has changed the political reality.

Steube said that most Republicans are not in favor of using antitrust enforcement to break up big companies because we have a free market system." Nevertheless, he said, the banning of former President Donald Trump and other conservatives has shifted his perspective. However, contrary to Republican complaints, a recent study showed that most social media outlets have helped amplify right-of-center content rather than censor it.

Republicans are also considering repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the tech liability shield, as a way to get Big Tech platforms to stop unfair and unnecessary censorship.

I understand the majority of Republicans in the Energy and Commerce Committee are for repealing Section 230, said Comer.

There are 26 Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which deals with many Big Tech issues due to its Communications and Technology subcommittee.

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House Republicans say they're being forced into considering Big Tech breakup - Washington Examiner