The Chief Executive Officers of Facebook, Twitter and Google are set to testify before a United States House panel on March 25 in a hearing about misinformation and disinformation on online platforms.
The hearing will be held by the Communications and Technology Subcommittee and the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the committee in the fully remote hearing Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) announced.
“Whether it be falsehoods about the Covid-19 vaccine or debunked claims of election fraud, these online platforms have allowed misinformation to spread, intensifying national crises with real-life, grim consequences for public health and safety,” the chairs said.
“For far too long, big tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences. Industry self-regulation has failed. We must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation,” they added.
The tech CEOs have testified in various hearings in the past year including an October hearing on Section 230 which protects the company from legal liability for content posted on their platforms. The platforms have been facing intense scrutiny over their policies regarding the handling of misinformation, hate speech and disinformation, among other policies.
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