Social media CEOs grilled by Senate committee on media bias, and warned of new federal limits
With next week’s election looming, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google were criticized by Republicans at a Senate hearing Wednesday for alleged anti-conservative bias in the companies' social media platforms — and warned of coming restrictions from Congress.
Lawmakers of both parties, citing the companies' tremendous power to disseminate speech and ideas, are looking to challenge their long-enjoyed legal protections for online speech.
With worries over election security growing, senators in the Commerce Committee hearing extracted promises from Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai that their companies will take needed measures.
Testifying via video, the executives said their companies are taking a number of measures, including partnerships with news organizations to get out accurate information. Dorsey said Twitter was working closely with state election officials. “We want to give people using the service as much information as possible,” he said.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that the social media giant does not block Holocaust-denying content even though it’s hateful and "misleading.”
“We don’t have a policy against misinformation,” Dorsey said. “We have a policy against misinformation in three categories, which are manipulated media, public health -- specifically COVID -- and civic integrity, election interference and voter suppression. That is all.”
CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter all defended themselves against accusations from Republican lawmakers that they somehow prioritize liberal voices and suppress conservative ones.
“We approach our mission without political bias,” Google’s Sundar Pichai remotely told the Senate Commerce Committee.
“America will emerge stronger than ever and we are proud to do our part,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said.
Several Republican senators contrasted Twitter blocking the Biden story while allowing Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who regularly uses his social media timeline to threaten Israel and deny the Holocaust.
“It’s strange to me that you’ve flagged the tweets from the president, but haven’t hidden the Ayatollah’s tweets on Holocaust denial, or calls to wipe Israel off the map,” said Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).
Democrats accused GOP lawmakers of holding the hearing so close to the election to make the companies think twice about blocking misinformation that helps President Trump.
“What they’re trying to do, namely, is to bully and browbeat these platforms.” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) added the GOP howls of outrage “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
.Senators may eventually examine proposals to revise long-held legal protections for online speech, an immunity that critics in both parties say enables the companies to abdicate their responsibility to impartially moderate content.
The three tech moguls were split over the proposals for changes to so-called Section 230, a provision of a 1996 law that has served as the foundation for unfettered speech on the internet.
Zuckerberg said Congress “should update the law to make sure it’s working as intended.” But Dorsey and Pichai opposed any changes.
Starting Tuesday, Facebook was not accepting any new political advertising and previously booked political ads will be able to run until the polls close on November 3, when all political advertising will temporarily be banned.
Google, which owns YouTube, also is halting political ads after the polls close. Twitter banned all political ads last year.
Democrats have focused their criticism of social media mainly on hate speech, misinformation and other content that can incite violence or keep people from voting. They have criticized Big Tech CEOs for failing to police content, homing in on the platforms' role in hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism in the U.S.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have scrambled to stem the tide of material that incites violence and spreads lies and baseless conspiracy theories.
The companies reject accusations of bias but have wrestled with how strongly they should intervene. They have often gone out of their way not to appear biased against conservative views — a posture that some say effectively tilts them toward those viewpoints.
Last week, the Justice Department sued Google for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising — the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago.
With antitrust in the spotlight, Facebook, Apple and Amazon also are under investigation at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
With News Wire Services
