Congressional hearing on US election disinformation
‘Seems you’re the ultimate editor’
Twitter, Facebook CEO’s face tough questions as lawmakers seek to curb social media’s ‘mafia like’ powers
Facebook and Twitter defended their handling of US election misinformation at a heated congressional hearing Tuesday where one key senator assailed the platforms for being the "ultimate editor" of political news.
The hearing, the second in less than a month, came with social media under fire from both the left and the right for their handling of political content during a bitter US presidential campaign.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified remotely to the session, which was called to discuss "censorship and suppression of news articles" and the "handling of the 2020 election" by the platforms.
"It seems like you're the ultimate editor," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, chairing the Judiciary Committee hearing, said at the opening as he took aim at decisions by both platforms to limit the distribution of a New York Post article claiming to expose malfeasance involving the son of President-elect Joe Biden during the campaign.
"When you have companies that have the power of governments (and) have far more power than traditional media outlets, something has to give."
Graham said the law known as Section 230 that gives immunity to online services for content posted by others "needs to be changed."
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal also called for reform of Section 230 while rebuking the companies for what he said was inadequate action against political misinformation by President Donald Trump.
Both Dorsey and Zuckerberg said they were open to reform on Section 230 but cautioned that the platforms should not be treated as "publishers" or traditional media.
Both CEOs defended their efforts to curb harmful misinformation during the election campaign.
Zuckerberg said Facebook removed false claims about polling conditions and displayed warnings on more than 150 million pieces of content flagged by independent fact-checkers.
Both CEOs said they would study the spread of election misinformation while allowing independent academics to carry out similar research.
Dorsey meanwhile said filtering at Twitter was not a result of bias, despite claims to the contrary by conservatives.
Both platforms have begun limiting the reach of many of Trump's tweets, notably those in which the president rejected his election defeat or questioned the integrity of the voting process.