Lawmakers Question Big Tech CEOs About Content Moderation Policies

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about their companies' content moderation practices during the 2020 presidential election. Republican senators questioned the tech giants about content moderation and the purported censorship of President Donald Trump and conservative voices; Democratic lawmakers focused their questioning about moderating misinformation and hate speech. Democrats also called for more legislation and regulation of the tech industry, including tougher data privacy laws, changes to a law that gives the companies legal protection for content posted by users, and greater antitrust action. Republicans also called for reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that protects companies from being sued over material users post on their platforms. Coverage from right-rated outlets tended to focus on Republican lawmakers' claims of anti-conservative bias; some right-rated outlets also noted that several major news outlets omitted the hearing from their evening newscast coverage.