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Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibility

This combination of 2018-2020 photos shows, from left, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The CEOs of social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google face a new grilling by Congress, Thursday, March 25, 2021, one focused on their efforts to prevent their platforms from spreading falsehoods and inciting violence. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, LM Otero, Jens Meyer) This combination of 2018-2020 photos shows, from left, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The CEOs of social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google face a new grilling by Congress, Thursday, March 25, 2021, one focused on their efforts to prevent their platforms from spreading falsehoods and inciting violence. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, LM Otero, Jens Meyer)

By MARCY GORDON and BARBARA ORTUTAY / AP Business Writers March 25, 2021 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The CEOs of tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google faced a grilling in Congress Thursday as lawmakers tried to draw them into acknowledging their companies’ roles in fueling the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and rising COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

In a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lawmakers pounded Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, which owns YouTube; and Twitter chief Jack Dorsey over their content policies, use of consumers’ data and children’s media use.

Republicans raised long-running conservative grievances, unproven, that the platforms are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints.

There is increasing support in Congress for legislation to rein in Big Tech companies.

“The time for self-regulation is over. It’s time we legislate to hold you accountable,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the committee’s chairman.