Senate Panel Subpoenas Top Social-Media CEOs
October 01 2020 - 10:19AM
Dow Jones News
By Ryan Tracy
WASHINGTON--The Senate Commerce Committee voted to subpoena
testimony from Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerbeg, Twitter Inc. CEO
Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its
subsidiary Google, setting up what could be a contentious hearing
with the largest U.S. social-media companies in the midst of a
national election.
In taking the unusual step of forcing the executives to testify
Thursday, Senators cited the need to review Section 230, a legal
provision that grants the companies legal immunity in managing
content on their sites, as well as privacy and other issues.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the committee's chairman, also
invoked the Nov. 3 election. "On the eve of a momentous and highly
charged election, it is imperative that this committee of
jurisdiction and the American people receive a full accounting from
the heads of these companies about their content moderation
practices," he said Thursday.
The subpoenas were adopted by voice voice, without opposition
from any of the panel's 26 members, both Republicans and Democrats.
After the votes, the lawmakers debated whether the hearing should
be held before or after the Nov. 3 election. Some Democrats said it
ought to be scheduled afterward, but GOP lawmakers who control the
committee appeared ready to move forward quickly.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), the committee's top Democrat,
had initially objected to the subpoenas, but said she agreed to
support them after Mr. Wicker expanded their scope to include
privacy issues.
She said she shared Republicans' desire to question the CEOs,
but didn't want the hearing to be used to pressure the companies to
stop taking down false information.
"What I don't want to see is a chilling effect on individuals
who are in a process of trying to crack down on hate speech and
misinformation about Covid during a pandemic," she said.
Representatives of the companies had no immediate comment.
The committee first asked the CEOs to testify on Sept. 18,
according to people familiar with the matter. Six days later, Mr.
Wicker announced he would move to subpoena testimony -- a fast
timeline by congressional standards. On Thursday he said the
subpoenas were necessary because the CEOs had "declined to
participate."
"It should speak volumes that every member of this committee
just voted to issue subpoenas," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Tex.) "Big
tech are the robber barons of the 21st Century."
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 01, 2020 11:04 ET (15:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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