Sundar Pichai refutes claims of bias, data tracking in Congress
WASHINGTON/SANFRANCISCO: Google chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai kicked off his first appearance before Congress on Tuesday refuting claims of bias, explaining the company’s privacy approach and stressing the company’s American roots.
As the hearing began, the heads of both political parties led with questions about Google’s data collection. Republican Bob Goodlatte asked how much personal information Google absorbs via its Android mobile software.
Pichai stressed that users opt in to certain data-tracking features, giving the example of fitness apps that measure steps. However, the CEO did not directly respond to a question about whether Android device users fully understand the terms of the operating system. “Beyond the terms of service, we actually offer, we remind users to do a privacy check up,” he said. “And we make it very obvious.”
Republican Lamar Smith asked whether Google’s search engine is biased against conservatives, citing studies. Pichai refuted those findings and said no employees have the ability to skew search results. “There are always studies which can show one set of data and arrive at a con- clusion,” Pichai said.
“But we have looked at results on our top news category. We find that we have a wide variety of sources.”
Pichai’s testimony was overshadowed by the memory of his empty chair from a September hearing he skipped. It caps a year filled with setbacks and stumbles that chilled relations between tech giants and Capitol Hill.
“It was necessary to convene this hearing because of the widening gap of distrust between technology companies and the American people,” House majority leader Kevin Mccarthy said, citing China, antitrust and anticonservative bias as concerns.
Mccarthy, a California Republican once viewed as close to tech, has been a prime mover behind the hearing and accusations of political bias. Democrats, who will take over the committee in 2019, have also previously pushed Silicon Valley officials on concerns about their size, foreign countries’ use of tech platforms to try to influence elections and a lack of workforce diversity.
“Right now, we have no plans to launch in China,” Pichai said on Tuesday.
“We don’t have a search product there. Our core mission is to provide information to users. Getting access to information is an important human right,” Pichai said in a response to farright conspiracy theorist Alex Jones questions.
He also reiterated Google’s support for a national privacy law.