“And not Twitter?”: Netizens react as Congress summons CEOs of Reddit, Discord, and other online forums to testify over “radicalization” of users

CEOs of four major online forums, Twitch, Discord, Steam, and Reddit, are asked to testify in front of a full committee hearing on October 8, 2025. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Chairman James Comer sent the letter to the four CEOs on Wednesday (September 17, 2025).

James Comer stated that following the assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, the online forums have seen an increase in "radicals" who spread "political violence." The Chairman expressed that the four CEOs must appear before Congress to explain the steps they will take to prevent the "radicalization" of users.

The news was reuploaded on X by the user @FearedBuck. The tweet garnered 11,000 likes and received a mixed reaction from netizens.

The CEOs of Twitch, Discord, Steam, and Reddit are being called to testify before Congress on the radicalization of their users pic.twitter.com/PHXDwxtooN

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) September 17, 2025

One user (@NovaDking4) expressed that X should also be included in the list, as it harbors "politically charged" people.

"And not Twitter??? The main app that politically charged ppl use?" they wrote.

Netizens jokingly speculated why X's owner, Elon Musk, was not summoned, saying that the app is "worse" than Twitch, Discord, Steam, and Reddit. Some users claimed that Steam is not supposed to be radicalizing, and its CEO should not have been summoned.

"I'm honestly surprised they called on Steam, it's like literally MAGNITUDES less "radicalizing" than any of the others," one netizen stated.

"This app is literally far worse than any of those apps except discord lol," one X user wrote.

"Insane how X didn't the cut. These psychos were calling for a Civil War until they found out the assassin was a registered Republican," another user wrote.

Some netizens supported the step, noting that many users had spread hate under the guise of "free speech." The X users wondered if the social media apps would be monitored in the future.

"This could mark a turning point for how gaming, streaming, and forum-based communities are regulated in the political space," one X user added.

"I'm curious what actions they are going to take. Banning? Will they be watching all our conversations now?" another netizen wrote.

"This is long overdue. These platforms have become the primary breeding ground for extremism and radicalisation, often hidden under the guise of community and free speech," one internet user wrote.

Prior to the summoning of CEOs, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Tyler Robinson was allegedly active on Reddit

Governor Spencer Cox told NBC News that Charlie Kirk's alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, was supposedly a part of gaming communities and "Reddit culture." Cox brought up the bullet casings that were found at the crime scene, which had internet culture references engraved on them.

"Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings, the meme-ification that is happening in our society today," Spencer Cox said.

According to Reuters' September 18, 2025, report, Reddit claimed that it is investigating the matter, and so far, it has not found sufficient evidence to prove that Tyler Robinson was active on its platform.

Meanwhile, the news outlet reported that Discord's representative noted that its CEO, Jason Citron, is open to testifying next month. The other three CEOs' spokespersons have not commented on the matter.

Stay tuned for more updates on Congress summoning the CEOs of Twitch, Discord, Steam, and Reddit.