Google CEO Sundar Pichai Faces Lawmakers Skeptical Over Privacy, Alleged Anti-Conservative Bias--2nd Update

By John D. McKinnon and Douglas MacMillan

WASHINGTON -- Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai deflected questions about anti-conservative bias on the world's largest search engine as he made a long-awaited first public appearance before lawmakers who have grown increasingly skeptical of Silicon Valley.

Appearing at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Pichai fielded tough questions about Google's data-privacy practices and its handling of disinformation campaigns by foreign actors. Much of the discussion, however, focused on what Republicans see as efforts to suppress conservative voices across the company's online services -- allegations that Mr. Pichai repeatedly denied.

"We use a robust methodology to reflect what is being said about any given topic at any given time," Mr. Pichai said. "I can assure you we do it without regards to political ideology."

Republicans were doubtful, pointing to a range of recently disclosed evidence, including videos and emails in which Google executives express animosity toward right-leaning ideas and causes. "For you to come in here and say there is no political bias in Google tells us you either are being dishonest... or you don't have a clue how politically biased Google is," said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas).

The hearing highlighted the difficulty the Alphabet Inc. unit faces in addressing the criticism that its search results and other products reflect potential biases from its largely liberal workforce. Google doesn't disclose many details about how its algorithms determine search results out of concern those results could be gamed or copied.

The questions echoed concerns raised by politicians in recent months including President Trump, who in August accused Google of elevating critical news stories about his presidency at the expense of friendly conservative voices.

During the hearing, Mr. Pichai pointed out as proof of Google's impartiality that its search engine frequently displays negative news stories about its own company.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California made it clear in his opening statement at Tuesday's hearing that Republicans are focused on what he termed a "widening gap of distrust" between Silicon Valley and the American people.

That distrust was sometimes reflected in lawmaker's pointed questions to Mr. Pichai about alleged bias, including claims that the company pushed voting efforts only in certain states and that it charges more money for ads of certain candidates than others. The CEO said Google found no evidence of a targeted voting effort and that its ad system is based on supply and demand, not political bias.

Several Democrats sought to undermine Republicans' claims of anti-conservative bias. Said Rep. Ted Lieu (D., Calif.) to GOP lawmakers: "If you want positive search results, do positive things."

Congress has discussed several possible steps toward regulating tech giants including Google, ranging from data-privacy legislation to an overhaul of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a landmark law that shields internet companies from liability for hosting content produced by others. Both issues have attracted support from Democrats as well as Republicans.

Several lawmakers raised concern about Google's handling of user data, following the company's disclosure on Monday of a privacy bug that exposed the personal data of 52.5 million users of the Google+ social network. That marked the second software glitch involving Google+ user data this year, the first of which Google failed to disclose for fear of regulatory scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal reported in October.

"How can we be sure that personally identifiable information is safe with you?" Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) asked.

Mr. Pichai said Google offers a privacy checkup tool to let users adjust controls on how their data is collected, but said Google has work to do to make it easier for users to fine-tune these controls. Google, like several other tech companies, supports federal privacy legislation as a way of mitigating the impact of restrictive new state privacy laws such as California's.

Google faces criticism over its plans to develop a search engine that would comply with China's strict internet censors. In the hearing, Mr. Pichai dodged questions about the future of these plans, repeatedly saying the company doesn't currently operate a search engine in China and that he plans to be transparent about any movement toward launching a product there. He acknowledged there have been more than 100 employees working on products for the Chinese market.

Mr. Pichai sought to reassure lawmakers of Google's identity as an American company. "Even as we expand into new markets, we never forget our American roots," Mr. Pichai said in his opening statement.

He said over the past three years Google has made direct contributions of $150 billion to the U.S. economy and added more than 24,000 employees, many of them outside California, in places such as Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Alabama. He also told lawmakers that "we work hard to ensure the integrity of our products," and that he leads the company "without political bias."

Mr. Pichai at times played down the dominance of Google's market power by saying users increasingly turn to Amazon.com Inc. and other competitors for more of their searches.

Sitting behind him during the entire hearing was a man wearing a mustache and top hat, dressed as the character from the popular board game Monopoly.

Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2018 16:37 ET (21:37 GMT)

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