Lawmakers grill Tech CEOs on Capitol Riot, get few direct answers
WASHINGTON» Lawmakers grilled the leaders of Facebook, Google and Twitter on Thursday about the connection between online disinformation and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, causing Twitter’s CEO to admit publicly for the first time that his product had played a role in the events that left five people dead.
When a Democratic lawmaker asked the executives to answer with a “yes” or a “no” whether the platforms bore some responsibility for the misinformation that had contributed to the riot, Jack Dorsey of Twitter said “yes.” Neither Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook nor Sundar Pichai of Google would answer the question directly.
The approximately fivehour hearing before a House committee marked the first time lawmakers directly questioned the CEOs regarding social media’s role in the January riot. The tech bosses also were peppered with questions about how their companies enable racism, spread falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines, and hurt children’s mental health.
It was also the first time the executives had testified since President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Tough questioning from lawmakers signaled that scrutiny of Silicon Valley’s business practices would not let up, and could even intensify, with Democrats in the White House and leading both chambers of Congress.
The CEOs have become Capitol Hill regulars in recent years. Zuckerberg has testified seven times since 2018. Dorsey has appeared five times, and Pichai has testified four times since then. But these hearings, regarding disinformation, antitrust and data privacy, have not led to regulations. Although there is bipartisan animus toward the companies, there is still little agreement on how specifically to hold the internet giants to account. Dozens of privacy, speech and antitrust bills have gone nowhere in the past few years.
“It will be very challenging to translate these concerns into legislation,” said Alexandra Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a tech think tank.
At the heart of the hearing were questions about whether the companies had a financial incentive to keep users engaged — and clicking on ads — by feeding them divisive, extreme and hateful content. Lawmakers from both parties said Congress should reconsider a law that shields the platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their users.
“You’re not passive bystanders,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “You’re making money.”
Lawmakers, who compared the business practices of social media companies to tobacco and alcohol companies, grew frustrated at times with what they said was the executives’ evasiveness.
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., asked the tech CEOs to answer yes or no: Did their platforms contribute to the spread of misinformation before the riot?
Zuckerberg and Pichai dodged the question. Dorsey was more direct.
“Yes,” he said. “But you also have to take into consideration the broader ecosystem. It’s not just about the technology platforms we use.”
The January riot at the Capitol has made the issue of disinformation deeply personal for lawmakers. The riot was fueled by false claims from President Donald Trump and others that the election had been stolen, which were rampant on social media.
Some of the participants had connections to QAnon and other online conspiracy theories. And prosecutors have said that groups involved in the riot, including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, coordinated some of their actions on social media.
Lawmakers also criticized the platforms for the way they have enabled the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines for COVID-19. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who represents part of Silicon Valley, told Dorsey that Twitter should “eliminate all COVID misinformation — and not label or reduce its spread, but remove it.”
Republicans criticized the companies for the amplification of toxic content that particularly harmed children. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said social media was her “greatest fear” as a parent. “I’ve monitored where your algorithms lead them. It’s frightening. I know I’m not alone,” Rodgers said.
The Republican members also focused on decisions by the social media platforms to ban Trump and his associates after the Jan. 6 riots. The bans hardened views by conservatives that the companies are left-leaning and are inclined to squelch conservative voices. “We’re all aware of Big Tech’s everincreasing censorship of conservative voices and their commitment to serve the radical progressive agenda,” said Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the panel’s technology subcommittee.
The companies showed fissures in their view on regulations. Facebook has supported internet regulations vocally in a major advertising blitz on television and in newspapers. In the hearing, Zuckerberg suggested specific regulatory reforms to a key legal shield, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, that has helped Facebook and other Silicon Valley internet giants thrive.
The legal shield protects companies that host and moderate third-party content, and says companies such as Google and Twitter are simply intermediaries of their user-generated content.
Zuckerberg proposed that liability protection for companies be conditional on their ability to fight the spread of certain types of unlawful content. He said platforms should be required to demonstrate that they have systems in place for identifying unlawful content and removing it. Reforms, he said, should be different for smaller social networks.
Pichai and Dorsey said they supported requirements of transparency in content moderation but fell short of agreeing with Zuckerberg’s other ideas.