Big Tech branded smug and untouchable: everything you need to know about the Congressional hearing

Big Tech bosses were branded “smug” and “untouchable” as they were grilled by lawmakers in the congressional hearing over social media disinformation.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey appeared before a House committee for the first time since the Capitol riot on 6 January.

The CEOs appeared by video to answer questions about the role their platforms played in the pro-Trump insurrection, with the lawmakers suggesting it was an event that showed a need for greater regulation.

Mike Doyle, the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee started the hearing by asking all three executives if they felt responsibility for the violence that was unleashed on the Capitol.

None of the three men was willing to give Mr Doyle that answer.

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Smug

Republican congressman Bill Johnson from Ohio became combative with the three executives during his five minutes of questioning.

Mr Johnson, who was among 12 Republican members of the committee who voted to overturn Joe Biden’s election win, compared the tech companies to tobacco firms, and said they were equally dangerous to society.

“Big Tech is essentially handing our children a lit cigarette and hoping they will stay hooked for life,” said Mr Johnson.

He then asked the businessmen if they should be held accountable to Congress and the American public for how they run their companies.

All three men replied that they already believed they were being held accountable, an answer that Mr Johnson did not care for.

“Gentlemen, let me tell you this. There’s a lot of smugness among you. There’s an air of untouchableness in your responses to many of the tough questions you’re being asked,” he told them.

Instagram for kids

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook was looking to create an Instagram for under 13s, but insisted that it was still “early in thinking through” how the product would work.

“Clearly there is a a large number of kids under 13 who would want to use Instagram and we currently do not let them do that,” said Mr Zuckerberg.

“Helping people stay connected with friends, learning about different content online is broadly positive. I think that something like this could be very helpful.”

Currently Instagram requires users to verify theIr age and anyone under 13 is not eligible for an account.

Any new Facebook service would join Youtube Kids, which Mr Zuckerberg said he enjoyed using with his daughters, who are three and five.

Section 230

Congress, and Joe Biden, appears broadly in favour of getting rid of Section 230, which protects the legal liability of platforms for their users.

Mr Zuckerberg has proposed that Congress should require internet platforms to earn liability immunity.

“Instead of being granted immunity, platforms should be required to demonstrate that they have systems in place for identifying unlawful content and removing it,” he wrote ahead of the hearing.

But Mr Dorsey and Mr Pichai both did not go that far in supporting that level of change, with Mr Dorsey saying it would be difficult to differentiate between a small and large internet platform.

Yes or No

Lawmakers were focused on getting the three executives to answer “yes or no” questions throughout the hearing.

So much so that Mr Dorsey took to Twitter during it to pose a yes/no poll of his own, and within two hours had more than 65,000 votes, with yes receiving more than 65 per cent of the vote.

Frustrated members of the committee regularly cut off the three men when they refused to give a one word answer to their question.

“Let me just say this, and it’s I think it’s irritating all of us, and that is that no one seems to know the word yes or the word no,” said Representative Anna G Eshoo.

Spanish

All three executives were asked about the Spanish-language misinformation that appeared on their platforms, particularly on Facebook. 

Lawmakers cited a study by the human rights group Avaaz, which stated that 70 per cent of Spanish-language misinformation had not been labelled as such by Facebook’s fact checkers, compared with 30 per cent of English-language misinformation.

False claims about vaccines have been cited as a reason why Latinos have been getting vaccinated at a low rate, according to The Washington Post.

Mr Zuckerberg did not answer a question about how much the company spent on dealign with Spanish-language misinformation compared to English-language.

Oversight

The three CEOs were asked by Vermont lawmaker Peter Welch if they thought a new federal agency should be created to oversee their industry.

Politicians from both parties have called for greater regulation of the tech industry in recent years and the federal government has launched antitrust investigations into both Google and Facebook.

Mr Zuckerberg said that he was supportive of the idea.

“I’ve said a number of times that I think that private companies should not be making so many decisions alone,” said Mr Zuckerberg.

“And I think that the solution that you’re talking about could be very effective and positive.”

Mr Pichai said he would defer to Congress on the establishment of any new agency and Mr Dorsey said he would need to look at the specifics of any plan.