General election. We have multiple factcheckers who focus on the spanish, as a nguage. In the last four years, we have seen some unprecedented taxi on our Democratic Institutions, our social norms, the ways in which we conduct ourselves in this democracy. Many would say on truth itself. And in todays society, you cant talk about truth without also considering the impact of social media and social media platforms. So, if i might, mr. Zuckerberg, and mr. Dorsey, free discussion and open debate are core values of our society. Whether you wish for it or not, the escapable fact is your algorithms, your policies and your Business Decisions shape billions of people across the world and the working majority of people here in our nation expect to be true. Thats the case for election, for potential covid19 vaccine, for Climate Change, for hateful and dangerous stereotypes and many other critical issues. I wals waalso want to recognize small part, led by your hard work and resolve built these com
Sen. Graham i think we have senator blumenthal remotely, is that correct . Is it ok if we move forward . Sen. Blumenthal absolutely. Sen. Graham this is about censorship and suppression of the 2020 election. Sort of a deep dive when it comes to twitter and facebook about the platforms and the decisions they make, how they make them, can we do better, chemically do we need to do better . The first thing i want to talk about here is health risk associated with social media. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 750 13 to 17yearolds found that 45 are online almost constantly and 97 use social media platforms such as youtube, facebook, instagram, or snapchat. If so why are we having this hearing . The products that these two companies offer, people like and they use. So the bottom line is theyve probably been more successful than their wildest dreams, and theyre having to make decisions that offend people on the left and the right. And what were trying to do is look at section 230 an
Good morning, everybody. I think we have senator blumenthal remotely, is that correct . Mr. Chairman. Is it okay, senator blumenthal, if we move forward . Absolutely. Thanks very much. Okay, ill make a brief Opening Statement and this is about censorship, suppression and the 2020 election, sort of a deep dive, when it comes to twitter and facebook, about the platforms and the decisions they make, how they make them. Can we do better . Do we need to do better . So the first thing i want to talk about here is Health Risks Associated with social media. A 2018 Research Center survey of nearly 750 13 to 17yearolds found that 45 are online almost constantly. A 97 use social media platforms such as youtube, facebook, instagram or snapchat. So why are we having this hearing . The products that these two Companies Offer people like and they use. So the bottom line is, theyve probably been more successful than their wildest dreams. And theyre having to make decisions that offend people on the le
These are the thingss thatpla h been at the forefront of americans minds in the leadup n to the election, as well as the weeks since our 2020 general election. And, you know, the people that , hear from, of course, believe that conservatives were onser wrongfully being silenced while those on the left were given basically free rein of your platforms. Give of y and one of the points. Oft contention that is often brought up is that you do recruit up heavily from california which he leads to your Employee Base leas skewing quite heavily to the b left. So, my first question is for f both of you. Do you have concerns about yours ability to monitor disinformation on both sides of the political aisle, equally, t given that the majority of your employees typically do lean towards the more Progressive Side . And, again, to both of you, how have you taken any steps then at all to make your Employee Base e more representative of the country as a whole, when it comes to political affiliation . And
Other, whose platform and has done more to protect the 2020 president ial election. Mark zuckerberg is going all in on the claim that facebooks moves have been historic. They have done more than any other country in history to make sure bad, fake information about this election is staying off of their platform. I will paraphrase something he said. They introduced new policies to combat Voter Suppression and misinformation and we worked with local Election Officials to remove hundreds of thousands of false claims about polling conditions. That he worried could have led to Voter Suppression. There is one thing so far in this hearing everyone agrees on, that is which posts stay up on these platforms, which come down and which get slapped with warning labels should definitely not be up to the u. S. Government. Take a listen. When it comes time to flag content as being reliable or not reliable do either one of you believe that the government should do that . I dont believe so. I think that