5 fact-checks from the Senate’s listening to on social media

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifying remotely earlier than the Senate on October 28. | Michael Reynolds/Getty Photographs

We took a better take a look at the unproven claims lawmakers made about Fb, Google, and Twitter.

Six days forward of a historic presidential election whose end result is anticipated to form the way forward for US democracy and as Congress delays passing a brand new financial stimulus deal to assist tens of millions of unemployed Individuals affected by the continuing pandemic, the Senate spent greater than three hours speaking about one thing else: how social media firms deal with controversial speech on the web.

Wednesday’s listening to was alleged to deal with nuanced reforms to a landmark web legislation — Part 230 — which shields tech firms from being sued for content material customers put up on their platforms. Each Democrats and Republicans have been calling for years to reform this legislation, arguing that it’s outdated contemplating how giant and highly effective these tech giants have change into. That’s why the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation subpoenaed Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to face questioning.

However as an alternative of speaking about reforming the precise legislation, most Republican Senators — with notable exceptions similar to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) — used their time to press the CEOs about particular content material moderation selections which were controversial with Republicans. Particularly, Twitter blocking an unverified story within the New York Put up making damning accusations about Hunter Biden earlier this month, or why the corporate fact-checks Trump extra usually than Iran’s or the Chinese language Communist Occasion’s leaders.

Some Democrats on the listening to — and plenty of outdoors observers — have written off the listening to as political theater orchestrated by conservatives days forward of the election to intimidate these firms so that they keep away from fact-checking Trump or conservative disinformation campaigns.

However Republicans argued that allegations of bias are important and legitimate, and that they should be swiftly addressed.

Many Senators used assumptions and cherry-picked proof to attempt to show their factors. And in response, the tech CEOs successfully skirted extra severe discussions about their precise shortcomings in content material moderation.

Listed here are the fact-checks on the 5 most head-scratching claims senators — and tech CEOs — made on the listening to.

1) Although Republicans say social media firms are broadly censoring conservative speech, the proof doesn’t help the declare.

Many conservative lawmakers, inspired by President Trump, have lengthy alleged that tech firms are censoring Republicans on social media. And at this time’s listening to was no exception.

Citing social media firms’ dealing with of the Hunter Biden New York Put up story, in addition to Google’s threats to ban conservative information web site the Federalist over allegedly racist content material, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) mentioned in his opening remarks: “These latest incidents are solely the newest in a protracted path of censorship and suppression of conservative voices on the web.”

Whereas it’s true that Twitter and Fb have made some controversial and at instances questionable selections to restrict false or unverified speech by conservative politicians and information shops (Twitter reversed its stance on blocking the Hunter Biden story, Fb didn’t), these are particular person examples.

On the entire, knowledge exhibits that conservative content material thrives on social media. Conservative pundits like Dan Bongino and Ben Shapiro persistently rank among the many most shared information sources on Fb primarily based on the corporate’s knowledge aggregation instrument, CrowdTangle. And regardless of all of the hoopla about Twitter’s alleged censoring of Trump, the president nonetheless makes use of the platform day-after-day to succeed in tens of tens of millions extra followers than Joe Biden does.

In truth, Trump himself has repeatedly said that, with out social media, he wouldn’t be capable to “get the phrase out” to the folks.

Republican senators requested why tech firms haven’t fact-checked high-profile Democratic leaders like Biden as a lot as they’ve Trump, however they ignored the very apparent reply: that Trump, not like Biden, has extra steadily promoted false and deceptive statements on social media. If Biden have been to assault mail-in voting or the essential science behind Covid-19, as Trump has, he would doubtless face the identical sort of moderation.

To Republicans’ credit score, an underlying pressure right here is that many individuals who work at tech firms lean liberal (extra on that later). And, again in 2016, Gizmodo reported that these political opinions generally trickled into low-level worker content material moderation selections by way of the disastrous “Fb Trending” part. However lots has modified since then (for one, Fb has performed away with that its trending part solely). If something, the proof now appears to counsel that Fb has adjusted within the different course to please Republicans and fend off claims of anti-conservative bias. In accordance with latest reporting from BuzzFeed Information, NBC Information, and the Wall Road Journal, the corporate has at instances overridden its fact-checking system and tweaked its algorithms to favor conservative publications over liberal ones like Mom Jones.

2) Ted Cruz claimed social media firms are the largest menace to free speech within the US. That’s by no means clear.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) got here in scorching to the listening to, asserting his intent to grill Dorsey in a wrestling-match model flyer he (paradoxically) tweeted out the evening earlier than the session, all within the title of defending free speech on the web.

“The three witnesses now we have earlier than the committee at this time collectively pose the one greatest menace to free speech in America and the best menace now we have to free and truthful elections,” Cruz mentioned, talking about Dorsey, Zuckerberg, and Pichai.

Cruz is entitled to his opinion, in fact, however it’s by no means objectively clear that the largest menace to free speech or election integrity on this nation is when Fb, Twitter, or Google fact-check politicians like Trump.

In truth, if you happen to requested this identical query of main free speech advocates and human rights organizations, many would say a much bigger concern is Trump’s sustained and more and more vitriolic assaults on the free press since his first day in workplace. If social media firms do pose a menace to free speech, they are saying, it has much less to do with how they deal with conservative voices and extra do with the extremist hate speech that spreads on their platforms, and which has a chilling impact on girls, minorities, and different marginalized teams by shutting them out of on-line public discourse.

It’s true that social media firms now rival governments within the scope of their energy and affect, and free speech defenders of all political persuasions demand that these firms present extra transparency and accountability about what content material they do and don’t permit.

However for Cruz and a few of his Republican colleagues to help free speech solely when it fits their political wants (in an excessive instance of this, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) denounced Google for allegedly censoring Republicans whereas concurrently calling for the corporate to fireplace a rank-and-file worker who publicly criticized her) is a hypocritical one at greatest.

3) Dorsey advised Cruz that Twitter doesn’t influence elections. It does.

Regardless of Cruz’s largely theatrical political showboating, he did get into one necessary alternate with Dorsey that highlighted a difficulty originating with the tech platforms themselves: their refusal to acknowledge that they’re extra than simply impartial platforms.

At one level, Cruz requested Dorsey whether or not Twitter has affect over the elections, and Dorsey mentioned no.

Cruz retorted, “If you don’t imagine you’ve gotten the facility to affect elections, why do you block something?”

Dorsey’s response was that Twitter blocks content material to scale back harassment and make everybody really feel included on its platform. Fb and Google have equally asserted that they intention to be impartial platforms for folks to speak, with exceptions to guard their customers from hurt. However that’s simply a part of the image.

The fact is that Twitter, Fb, Google, and each different social media platform make selections day-after-day about what sort of political speech is and isn’t allowed on their platforms. Furthermore, the algorithms underpinning these platforms dictate which matters go viral and attain the lots immediately, and which of them get seen by a a lot smaller variety of folks. And since these websites are the principle approach tens of tens of millions of Individuals primarily eat their every day information, what’s and isn’t allowed on them can in fact influence how somebody votes in an election.

The truth that Dorsey — in addition to Zuckerberg and Pichai — wouldn’t admit this fundamental truth was telling of tech CEOs’ lack of candor concerning the political energy they’ve amassed by means of their firms.

4) Senators instructed tech firms’ liberal worker majorities are an issue. However that’s neither unlawful nor the federal government’s job to police.

To start with, let’s be clear that the majority tech workers at Google, Twitter, and Fb lean liberal. That’s reflective of the demographics the place these firms are primarily based and the talents they rent for: largely college-educated employees in main city areas like San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.

In Wednesday’s listening to, a number of Republican Senators questioned tech CEOs concerning the political make-up of their workforce as if there was one thing shameful about this.

The insinuation is that as a result of these firms have a liberal-leaning workforce that they as a default are stifling conservative speech.

However as we talked about earlier, there isn’t any actual proof of that systematic suppression. And even when there have been, the answer wouldn’t essentially be to mandate that everybody who works for Fb or Twitter move some sort of political litmus take a look at.

Congress has a darkish historical past of blacklisting residents from gainful employment on account of their political opinions. Whereas it’s truthful to query the unparalleled political energy of tech firms and attempt to regulate that drawback, it’s harmful for lawmakers to misleadingly body the problems at hand as being linked to workers’ private politics.

5) Senators saved saying Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s title incorrectly. It’s pronounced “Pitch-eye.”

Senators throughout the aisle repeatedly butchered the title of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The soft-spoken Pichai, who was born and raised in India and labored his approach up on the search large from a product supervisor to its chief government, shunned correcting his questioners.

The truth that members of Congress have been mispronouncing the title of one of the necessary enterprise leaders within the US was an embarrassing slip many observers instantly famous on Twitter. Particularly because it was Pichai’s third time being questioned in entrance of Congress.

And whereas getting Pichai’s title proper is a much less necessary level within the scope of the broader points at stake round social media, it’s not insignificant, both. In latest months, Trump and a few Republican lawmakers have repeatedly mocked Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris over the pronunciation of her title. It appears extra doubtless that on this case, senators have been botching Pichai’s title out of ignorance reasonably than malice. However as BuzzFeed Information identified, Congress hasn’t had any hassle saying different hard-to-pronounce names up to now. Within the yr 2020, there’s actually no excuse for elected officers to not at the least try to accurately pronounce the title of a world tech titan.

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