Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, the directors of Facebook and Twitter, will testify before a Senate Committee on October 28. According to a source of Reuters, Google director Sundar Pichai will also be present, but the company did not confirm that.
The Senate Committee on Commerce wants to talk to the three CEOs about the possible reform of an American law protecting internet companies. The White House wants to change the law to give companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google more responsibility.
Section 230 of the Act states that internet companies are not in principle responsible for what users do on their platforms. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (part of Google) are therefore not liable for the texts, videos and reactions that users leave on their social media.
The appearance before the commission gives the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Google the opportunity to explain personally how companies, for example, are preventing the spread of fake news, hate messages and terrorist messages and what role Section 230 of the law plays in this.
In recent years, Directors of large tech companies have had to appear regularly before committees of the US Congress. For example, Facebook, Twitter and Google had to answer together during an interview with a Senate committee in September 2018, when they were asked to play the role of social media in Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
Facebook then sent operational director Sheryl Sandberg to Washington. Dorsey was present on Twitter, and Larry Page from Google never showed up. In connection with the coronacrisis, the directors will be filing virtually at the end of October.
Nicholas de Krammer, а self-taught economic analytic with heave mathematical background. Math behind the economics (and economics behind math) is the strong side of the author. Contact him at nicholas.dekramer@economicinform.com
