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
Very practical terms. Were in the middle of another election. This election in georgia could determine, in fact, which Party Controls the United States senate. Im concerned that both of your companies are in fact backsliding or retrenching, that you are failing to take action against dangerous disinformation, exactly the same kind of Voter Suppression tactics that existed in the last election and that you are in fact reducing content modification. The fighting words and hate speech in the last election could inflame violence and send poll workers into hiding, discourage people from coming to the polls. We have to expect the same kinds of maligned tactics, in fact they are already visible and im going to ask, mr. Chairman, that these posts and tweets be entered in the record. If theres no objection. That are aimed at delegitimizing the election in january. My question to you is, will you commit to the same kind of robust, content modification playbook in this coming election, including
Material on digital platforms be entered into the record. B thank you both for being here today. Without objection. Senator cornyn. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Dorsey, in recent hearings beforee the Senate Commerce thi committee, you said, i think, that twitter has a policy olicy against this information relating to civic integrity. Gri. President trump and his allies have tweeted hundreds of false al claims about the 2020 election. Trump has falsely claimed victory and alleged widespread voter fraud. So, heres the question. Does misinformation about the results of an election and voter fraud relate to civic integrityr why or why not . Yes, it does. And we label those tweets. When the election has not been t called yet or multiple sources have called it differently. Calld im sorry. I didnt understand that. I di did you say you have been able y to tweet . No. Tweet . We have labeled the tweets that would indicate a different result in the election, called e by multiple sources. In the
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