Big tech US hearing without highlights
The CEOs of Google, Facebook and Twitter appeared before the US Congress in a hyped hearing about their platforms’ responsibilities for the mob breaking in to the Capitol on Jan 6, but not much was really said.
Lawmakers were critical to the efforts for preventing the platforms’ users to amplify calls to violence and spread misinformation that contributed to the attempt to violently overturn the election results.
In discussions prior to the hearing some lawmakers have argued that the so called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should be scrapped or changed. The section prevents online platforms from liability over user content. Several lawmakers have tabled proposals about changes etc but they are still being processed so nothing is decided yet.
In an attempt to lead the discussion about the Section 230 section, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had the day prior to the hearing presented a proposal in writing saying section 230 should be redone to allow companies immunity from liability for what users put on their platforms only if they follow best practices for removing damaging material.
His colleagues Sundar Pichai, Google and Jack Dorsey, Twitter said they were open to some parts of Zuckerberg’s proposal but no one really committed to anything.
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