Tech giants face scrutiny over policing

WASHINGTON — Executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter faced questioning by a House panel Wednesday on their efforts to stanch terrorist content and viral misinformation on their social media platforms.

The scrutiny comes as the tech giants step up safety measures and the Democratic presidential debates get underway.

“As the presidential debates begin, we are building on our efforts to protect the public conversation and enforce our policies against platform manipulation,” Twitter said Wednesday. “It’s always an election year on Twitter.”

Facebook said it will have “a dedicated team proactively monitoring for threats as well as investigating any reports of abuse in real time in the lead up to, during and following the debates.”

The hearing by the Homeland Security Committee was prompted by the mosque shootings in New Zealand in March, attributed to a self-professed white supremacist who livestreamed the attacks on Facebook. Fifty people were killed.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-miss., the panel’s chairman, noted that the livestreamed massacre occurred nearly two years after Facebook, Twitter, Google and other big tech companies established a global internet forum to fight the spread of online terrorist content.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed his criticism of the tech giants, insisting that their platforms censor conservative views. “They’re doing it to me on Twitter,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”

“You know, I have millions and millions of followers, but I will tell you they make it very hard for people to join me on Twitter, and they make it very much harder for me to get out the message,” Trump said. “These people are all Democrats. It’s totally biased toward Democrats.”