“The time has come for that free pass to
end,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee. Wicker, R-Miss., said the laws
governing online speech must be updated
because “the openness and freedom of the
internet are under attack.”
He spoke at the opening of the hearing as
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark
Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai waited
to testify via video.
Wicker cited the move this month by Facebook
and Twitter to limit dissemination of an
unverified political story from the conservative-
leaning New York Post about Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden. The story,
which was not confirmed by other publications,
cited unverified emails from Biden’s son Hunter
that were reportedly disclosed by Trump allies.
Republicans led by President Donald Trump
have accused the social media platforms,
without evidence, of deliberately suppressing
conservative, religious and anti-abortion views.
In their prepared testimony, Dorsey,
Zuckerberg and Pichai addressed the
proposals for changes to a provision of a
1996 law that has served as the foundation
for unfettered speech on the internet. Critics
in both parties say that immunity under
Section 230 enables the social media
companies to abdicate their responsibility to
impartially moderate content.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that Congress
“should update the law to make sure it’s
working as intended.”
Image: Greg Nash