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The US Congress has questioned the CEOs of the three most powerful tech companies about censorship and misinformation on their respective social media channels.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and Google’s Sundar Pichai answered questions from two Congressional subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce.
During the hearing, lawmakers asked Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Pichai about their roles in shaping public debates, spreading “misinformation,” and potentially restricting Americans’ rights to free speech.
The broad theme during the hearing was that social media companies simply couldn’t be trusted to regulate their platforms appropriately, especially after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District said, “You have the means, but, time after time, you are picking engagement and profit over the health and safety of your users, our nation, and our democracy.”
The Pennsylvania politician said social media platforms have failed to clamp down on “misinformation,” and this is problematic for the public.
“The power of this technology is awesome–and terrifying,” Doyle said. “And each of you has failed to protect your users and the world from the worst consequences of your creations.”
Some lawmakers used the hearing to call for increased government involvement in controlling the type of speech on social media.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois’s 9th Congressional District, said increased government regulation of speech on social media platforms has become necessary.
“They must be held accountable for allowing disinformation and misinformation to spread.”
“Your business model itself has become the problem and the time for self-regulation is over,” Pallone told Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Pichai. “It’s time we legislate to hold you accountable.”
Legislators brought up Section 230, a part of U.S. communications law that prevents social media platforms from being held liable for their users’ content.
Zuckerberg and Pichai agreed that more government regulations on social media might be necessary but said it would be a mistake to get rid of Section 230 altogether.
Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc, said, “Regulation has an important role to play in ensuring that we protect what is great about the open web. We are, however, concerned that many recent proposals to change Section 230–including calls to repeal it all together–would not serve that objective well.”
Jack Dorsey agreed with Zuckerberg and Pichai that social media companies need to do a better job of controlling the flow of misinformation by saying:
“technology companies have work to do to earn trust from those who use our services.”
Dorsey cautioned that additional government regulation might harm smaller companies that don’t have the financial means to navigate a complex regulatory environment.
The Twitter founder also cautioned that if the government became more heavily involved in regulating what can and can’t be said on social media platforms, it might make people think that they simply can’t question their governments at all.
He admitted blatantly that his company made a “mistake” in shutting down the New York Post’s Twitter account.
“It was just a process error. This was not against them in any particular way,” Dorsey said.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana’s 1st congressional district pressed on the issue of Twitter’s suppression of the Post’s reporting by asking:
“[For] their entire account to be blocked for two weeks by mistake seems like a really big mistake.”
“Was anyone held accountable in your censoring department for that mistake?”
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington’s 5th Congressional District pressed the tech CEOs on the effect of social media on children in particular by asking:
“Do you know what convinced me Big Tech is a destructive force?” “It’s how you’ve abused your power to manipulate and harm our children.”
The Congress Woman said that as a mother of three, she saw how social media could become that “destructive force” in their lives.
McMorris Rodgers further added, “My husband and I are fighting the Big Tech battles in our household every day. It’s a battle for their development, a battle for their mental health, and ultimately, a battle for their safety.”
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