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- Leo Kelion
- BBC Tech News Editor
Image source,Getty Images / Twitter
Zuckerberg and Dorsey face questions from the senator.
The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter again accepted questions from congressmen at the US Senate hearing on Tuesday to explain how they handled the US elections.
In the United States general election, Trump has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the election results and questioned the fairness of the election without sufficient evidence. In this context, social media has tried to take on a larger fact-checking role, and Trump’s relevant comments on social media were flagged as “controversial,” but this approach sparked discussion.
Democrats in the United States question whether it is enough for social media to treat Trump’s comments on voter fraud as “controversial.” Republican members questioned whether social media companies should take such steps.
Both parties have proposed the intention of modifying article 230 of the “Law regulating communication”. This law passed in 1996 prevents online companies from being responsible for content posted by users on their platforms and, at the same time, can remove legal but objectionable content. .
Biden of the Democratic Party has long stated that he intends to amend the law because social media is not responsible for user comments and will encourage the spread of fake news in disguise. Several members of the Democratic Party also held the same position at the hearing.
Trump and the Republican Party also called for amendments to the law, arguing that social media has too much power over whether to remove speech or determine whether speech is true or false. The current practice of social networks is equivalent to exercising editorial decisions and is no longer a mere distributor of information. But the power of the publisher and the media, so Article 230 no longer applies.
Image source,United States Senate
Senator Greenham warned that social media is about to change.
“Federal laws give you the ability to develop yourself without being attacked by legal proceedings,” said Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn. “You use this power to do wrong things.”
Another Senator and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, said: “When your company has powers similar to those of the government and greater powers than traditional media, you have to think about it.”
During the campaign, Twitter blocked controversial reports about Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, published by the New York Post.
Image source,United States Senate
Dorsey believes that the outside world does not sufficiently understand Twitter’s policy enforcement measures.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that Twitter made a mistake in the decision. The company was unable to reinstate the New York Post tweets and needed more policy changes.
He said: “I hope this shows that we can listen to opinions, admit mistakes and present all changes to the public in a transparent way.”
But Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg did not directly discuss the issue in his opening remarks, instead refuting the Democratic Party’s accusation that Facebook was slow to remove posts promoting riots and violence.
“We have strengthened coercive measures against armed groups and conspiracy theories, such as Anonymous Q (QAnon), to prevent them from using our platform to organize violence and riots.”
Actions taken by Facebook and Twitter are sometimes inconsistent. For example, recently Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to US President Trump, called for the beheading of disease control expert Anthony Fauci and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Video by Christopher Wray. Twitter terminated Bannon’s account and Facebook simply froze his account.
Some Democratic senators expressed doubts that Facebook would not terminate Bannon’s account.
Zuckerberg explained that Bannon violated Facebook policies, but it wasn’t enough to permanently delete his account. Members asked Facebook to review this decision, Zuckerberg replied, “Our policy does not recommend this.”
Facebook was also accused of allowing violations by conservative outlets such as Trump’s son and the far-right news network Brightbart News Network.
But Zuckerberg argued that the report incorrectly described the actions taken by Facebook.
Democratic senators also questioned whether it was appropriate for Facebook and Twitter to respond to Trump’s posts about voter fraud simply by adding flags to the posts and allowing them to circulate.
Dorsey responded that he believes providing “background” and “connecting people to a larger discussion” is the right way to go.
Zugberg was asked if he felt he did everything possible to prevent the outside world from degrading the rationality of the choice. Just hours after Trump unilaterally announced his victory, posts tagged with stolen votes and voter fraud have had 300,000 interactions on Facebook.
“I think we have taken very important steps in this area,” Zugberg responded, noting that relevant information has been placed at the top of the screens of Facebook and Instagram users. “I think we have done a lot to help spread the word about the election results. Truthful and accurate information.”
Image source,EPA
Zuckerberg agrees that regulators have a role in targeting Facebook’s computing methods.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz used another angle to question why Twitter deliberately added words of caution to nearly every post about voter fraud. Dorsey of Twitter reiterated that this is a hope to connect people even more. There was a great discussion, but Cruz replied: “This is not a link to a broader discussion, but an endorsement of a controversial political position.”
Cruz said that Twitter has the right to take a position, but can only admit that it is an editor and waive the protection of Article 230.
He asked the two social networks to reveal how many times they tried in 2016, 2018 and 2020, and he banned speeches by candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties. But none of the companies promised to do so.
Another Republican senator Joni Ernst (Joni Ernst) asked how the leaders of the two social media companies would monitor the political positions of their employees. Both CEOs said this is difficult to do, but noted that the new corona epidemic has caused more people to work from home for a long time, meaning their work will be more diversified.
The BBC’s North American affairs correspondent James Clayton (James Clayton) described that at this Senate hearing, members are still on the campaign trail, which made the situation a bit confusing. The two companies have expressed their willingness to be more transparent, especially in how they control the platform. Comments on Twitter have been particularly challenged by Republicans, especially Trump tweets that have been added with warnings, while Facebook is the target of Democratic attacks, such as wondering why Bannon’s account has not been permanently terminated. .
But overall, both social media leaders agree that 230 articles should be reviewed. Reforms to this law seem inevitable and the focus of the debate will shift to what kind of reforms will be implemented.
Republican Congressman Josh Hawley claimed that a Facebook whistleblower contacted his office and reported it to an internal tool called Centra. Holly said that this tool can track people’s internet usage and monitor whether they are logged into different Facebook accounts, even if they use different names.
Zuckerberg said, “I don’t know much.”
Holly expressed her dissatisfaction with this: “It’s really amazing. So many people suddenly have amnesia when they attend this committee.”
Image source,United States Senate
Sen. Holly accused Facebook of having tools to monitor whether users use different accounts.
Another Republican senator, Michael Lee, mentioned that Twitter had suspended the account of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan. At the time, Morgan tweeted that the wall built on the US-Mexico border could prevent murderers, criminal gangs, sex offenders and drugs from entering the United States.
Michael Lee asked, what kind of hate speech is there? In response, Dorsey admitted that Twitter had done something wrong because they wanted to increase awareness of government accounts.
Michael Lee asked: “I know that sometimes there are errors, but the problem is that all the errors that we see today are almost all due to a certain political tendency, not another.
Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirona said an independent investigation has suggested this accusation of social media bias is completely unfounded.
On the other hand, Graham asked the two presidents if there was any evidence that their platform was addictive.
Zuckerberg said: “From what I have seen so far, this is not conclusive. Most studies show that most people will not consider these services addicted or feel addicted, but there are some measures that can be provided to women. people to better manage them. My own experience. “
Dorsey said, “Like everything else, these tools can be addictive. We need to pay attention to them, admit it, and make sure guests understand how best to use them.”
The vice president-elect of the United States, Kamala Harris, was originally a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but did not attend the meeting.
