Rep. Adam Kinzinger suggests social media companies need to take responsibility for violent, 'insurrection-type' speech

Scott Applewhite/AP

Kinzinger said on Friday that social media companies should be more aware of online threats.

During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, the congressman said that the country needs to "come to a conclusion on what social media is and isn't responsible for."

He supports the First Amendment. I don't want insurrection-type, violent-type speech being passed on in these medium that can lead to a really unstable situation.

The House Oversight Committee sent letters to the executives of eight social media companies, demanding that they take action against the "spike in online threats against law enforcement officers" that have been made since the FBI searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

The executives of Meta were sent a letter.

"We are concerned that reckless statements by the former President and Republican Members of Congress have unleashed a flood of violent threats on social media that have already led to at least one death and pose a danger to law enforcement officers across the United States," they said in a joint statement. Any threats of violence against law enforcement that appear on your company's platforms need to be addressed immediately.

Two days after the Mar-a-Lago raid, an armed man was shot and killed by police in Cincinnati, Ohio. The FBI office was the site of the attempted break-in.

Kinzinger took a jab at older social media users who claim to be going after the government or the FBI.

He said it was all over TikTok. I'm always amazed to see the older men on TikTok.

That can't be allowed anymore in this country, he said.