Social Media giants Twitter and Facebook were summoned to appear in the Congress to answer questions about the foreign influence the social media sites and the user protection in their platforms. Google failed to send a representative before the committee.
Tech executives were once again invited in the US Congress to a series of High profile hearings. This happened five months after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared in the Congress.
The Senate Select Intelligence Committee interviewed the Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. In the hearing, Dorsey was questioned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
It was noted that the search engine giant Google was unable to send a senior executive during the proceedings in Washington. An empty chair was left to note the absence of the search site.
On Tuesday, Zuckerberg spent his time answering nearly five hours of questions from 44 US senators regarding the abuse of citizen's data. On Wednesday, he was again attacked with allegations of the company's failure to protect its user's data. The members of the committee questioned the website's perceived bias against the conservative's opinions and the user's use of the website as a selling medium for illegal materials like drugs.
Sandberg and Dorsey have already prepared their statements to be read at the opening of the hearings. Sandberg admitted Facebook's history of mistakes but she said that the company is making efforts that will address the issue of election interference on its website.
According to Sandberg, they were slow to spot the issue and they were also slow in taking actions against it. She said that the fault is for them to bear and the interference was completely unacceptable and it violates the company's values and the values of the country that they love.
Dorsey argued in his opening statement that Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions. The social network has tried to place itself as a platform that inspires free speech. However, the website has been battling the balance of hate speech in its users.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Dorsey personally intervened to reinstate the far-right firebrand Alex Jones' account.
In his opening speech, Dorsey expressed his appreciation that he was able to appear before the committee because it gave him the chance to clear things to the members of the committee and the American people. He said that the purpose of their platform is to serve the public conversation. He added that Twitter is an American company that serves their global audience by focusing on the people who use their service.
