Senators grill tech bosses

GOP pushes anti-conservative bias claim

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 (r.), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (l.) and Google’s Sundar Pichai (center) that their companies will take needed measures.

Testifying via video, the executives said their companies were 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.

The three CEOs all defended themselves against accusations from President Trump and Republican lawmakers that they somehow prioritize liberal voices and suppress conservative ones.

“We approach our mission without political bias,” Pichai told the committee.

“America will emerge stronger than ever and we are proud to do our part,” Zuckerberg said.

The chorus of protest increased recently after Facebook and Twitter acted to limit dissemination of an unverified story about the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Several Republican senators contrasted Twitter blocking the Biden story while allowing Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to regularly use 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.).

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.”

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) added the GOP howls of outrage “doesn’t pass the smell test.”

The three tech moguls were split over the proposals for changes to the 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.

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.