West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey urged 12 cable, satellite and streaming companies Wednesday to reject pressure from two members of Congress to remove certain news networks from their viewing offerings.
The move stems from a recent letter to those same companies from two members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The Attorney General argues the California congressional representatives overstepped their authority by pressuring the industry to engage in dangerous, anticompetitive and collusive censorship of conservative daily news programming.
The Attorney General contends his duty to enforce the state’s antitrust laws means he would oppose any collusive and anticompetitive conduct that may arise in West Virginia due to the congressional letter.
“My colleagues and I will not allow collusive anticompetitive activities to run wild, especially when the consequences mean that millions of Americans are deprived of diverse political content they wish to enjoy—content that lies at the heart of political discourse in America,” Attorney General Morrisey wrote.
The Attorney General sent his letter to executives at Alphabet Inc., Altice USA, Amazon, Apple Inc., AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable Corporation, Cox Communications, Dish Network Corporation, Hulu, Roku and Verizon.