By John D. McKinnon and Ryan Tracy
WASHINGTON -- CEOs of two big social-media platforms said their
companies did better in fending off election interference in 2020,
but they still took hits from all political sides at a postelection
congressional hearing.
The tough tone of the hearing Tuesday suggested that tech
companies continue to face higher risks of new regulation in the
next Congress that begins in January.
At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Facebook Inc.'s Mark
Zuckerberg and Twitter Inc.'s Jack Dorsey touted improvements their
companies made in blocking or reducing misleading information in
the 2020 election. That led to less interference, the CEOs said. By
contrast, the 2016 election was marred by meddling from Russia.
"Securing the integrity of elections is an ongoing challenge for
platforms, and we are committed to continuing to improve our
systems, but I am proud of the work we have done over the past four
years to prevent election interference and support our democracy,"
Mr. Zuckerberg said in his opening statement. "Millions of
Americans used our service to talk about the campaigns, access
credible information about voting, and register to vote."
But lawmakers renewed concerns from other recent hearings, where
they have complained about the platforms' power and reach, as well
as how they are handling specific election-related content.
Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said the companies
should prepare for modifications to their cherished federal legal
protections, suggesting that the companies have grown so large and
powerful that they no longer need the special legal shield.
"When you have companies that have the power of governments...
something has to give" in the legal shield, known as Section 230,
Mr. Graham said. "[Section] 230 as it exists today has got to
give."
Republicans also complained that the platforms continue to
censor conservative speech, a charge that the platforms -- and
Democrats -- generally reject.
Democrats raised their own partisan concerns, including worries
that some of the platforms' current content restrictions could
hinder them in a crucial Georgia runoff election in January that
likely will decide control of the Senate.
"I'm concerned that both of your companies are in fact
backsliding or retrenching" in their efforts to combat misleading
information in the run-up to the Georgia runoff, said Sen. Richard
Blumenthal (D., Conn.).
Mr. Blumenthal also said the hearing points the way to action on
tech issues in the next Congress. While praising what he termed
"baby steps" by the platforms toward controlling misinformation and
other ills in the run-up to the November election, he added, "You
must do much more...You need to meet this moment and put your power
and money on the right side of history."
Mr. Zuckerberg touted the success of Facebook's extensive
efforts to combat misinformation and voter suppression. He noted
that the company partnered with election officials to remove false
claims about polling information, and displayed warnings on more
than 150 million pieces of content after review by third-party fact
checkers. The company also attached informational labels to content
that sought to undermine the legitimacy of the election, Mr.
Zuckerberg said.
Mr. Dorsey told senators that Twitter's new policies for
labeling or removing false and misleading information marked a big
step forward, even though those measures drew complaints from
President Trump after some of his own tweets were hit with labels.
Mr. Trump's labeled tweets addressed mail-in voting, violent
protests and the coronavirus.
Mr. Dorsey also noted that about 300,000 tweets have been
labeled for content that was disputed and potentially
misleading.
"We want to be very clear that we do not see our job in this
space as done," Mr. Dorsey said in his testimony. "Our work here
continues and our teams are learning and improving how we address
these challenges and earn the trust of the people who use
Twitter."
Both men also signaled cautious support for measures to modify
some of the legal protections that social-media platforms currently
enjoy under a federal law dating from the mid-1990s. Section 230 of
the Communications Decency Act conveyed near-complete legal
immunity to the platforms for the acts of their users, and broad
powers to police their content.
In the wake of growing dissatisfaction with big platforms,
lawmakers in both parties have begun considering changes to Section
230.
Mr. Graham announced the hearing before the election to "focus
on the platforms' censorship and suppression" of articles in the
New York Post that raised allegations against President-elect Joe
Biden, which the Biden camp denied. Twitter initially blocked
tweets of the articles, including from the Post.
Twitter later said it would allow posts about the disputed Post
articles, which the Post said were based on documents obtained from
the laptop of Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden's son, and concerned
international business dealings, including in China. The Biden
campaign has disputed the allegations.
The hearing also will "provide a valuable opportunity to review
the companies' handling of the 2020 election," Mr. Graham's
announcement said.
The Jan. 5 runoff election in Georgia will decide two Senate
seats and will likely determine which party controls the chamber
after Mr. Biden is sworn in.
In one runoff, Republican Sen. David Perdue is facing Democrat
Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker. In the other, Democrat Raphael
Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is
challenging Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Democrats are expected to bring up other concerns at the
hearing. Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), a member of the judiciary
panel, wrote a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg Monday accusing Facebook of
not doing enough to protect Muslims, citing a Facebook-commissioned
civil rights audit that reported in July some Muslims feel "under
siege" because of popular content demonizing them. Facebook has
noted that the audit described progress as well as
shortcomings.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Ryan
Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 17, 2020 11:59 ET (16:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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