Ted Cruz laid the case last year for how online service providers were the new secret weapon to systemically censor conservatives. Now, armed with new powers in the U.S. Senate majority, the Texas Republican is out to prove it for good.

On Monday, Ted Cruz’s Senate Commerce Committee informed a massive online service provider called Bonterra that it intends to subpoena it for documents related to its actions that deplatformed a prominent conservative group. The company, which is used by nonprofits across the country to help fundraise and manage operations, was investigated by Cruz last year for cutting off service to the Independent Women’s Forum over claims that it violated the company’s terms of service.

Cruz told The Daily Wire on Monday that its work laying out how Bonterra mistreated Independent Women’s Forum was just the beginning. He wants to see whether other conservative groups were victims of discrimination, and also understand how it was carried out.

“I believe it is important that the Committee subpoena additional information to learn whether Bonterra blacklisted other conservative groups and to understand exactly how Big Tech crafts seemingly benign contract terms that exist solely to justify discrimination on the basis of politics,” Cruz said.

The subpoena will target documents and communications between Bonterra and any third parties that advised Bonterra on its “business ethics” provision or its anti-hate speech policy, a senior aide for the committee told The Daily Wire. The committee will also demand communications with third parties who flagged users for alleged violations, and documents that will help it identify accounts removed by Bonterra for hate speech.

Bonterra never disclosed to Independent Women’s Forum why it terminated service, but it disclosed to Cruz’s committee during last year’s investigation that it was over claims that the group “works to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community.” It also claimed to the committee, bizarrely, that it does not focus on “positions of the organization” when making decisions about terms of service violations. 

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