Republicans accuse social media companies of censoring conservative speech. (Representative)
Washington:
CEOs of Facebook and Twitter are expected to testify before a congressional hearing on Tuesday that will explore their content moderation practices as Republicans accuse social media companies of censoring conservative speech.
In October, Republican lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the formal summons of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.
Democrats on the panel did not vote on the summons. The subpoenas were approved just after social media platforms decided to block New York Post articles that made statements about the son of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Tuesday’s hearing is expected to be highly political.
Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Dorsey, as well as Alphabet-owned Sundar Pichai, also appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee in October for a hearing in which Republican lawmakers questioned companies on their content moderation decisions .
The hearing quickly turned into a political fight with lawmakers attacking each other.
Upset by companies’ decision on what to leave on the platform and what to remove, many Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump have threatened to remove protections from internet businesses under a law federal law called section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
The law prevents companies from being sued for important user posts on their platforms.
Biden, now president-elect, has also said he supports the repeal of Section 230.
Democrats in Congress prefer a more deliberate approach to law reform, however.
During the October hearing, Twitter’s Dorsey said the erosion of Section 230 could dramatically affect the way people communicate online.
Mr Zuckerberg said he supported changing the law, but also said tech platforms were likely to censor more to avoid legal risks if the law was repealed.
