ARGUMENT: Online disinformation & extremismA Dozen Experts with Questions Congress Should Ask the Tech CEOs — On Disinformation and Extremism
On Thursday, 25 March, two subcomittees of the House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a joint hearing on “the misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms. Yaël Eisenstat and Justin Hendrix write that Thursday hearings will be the first time the tech CEOs will face Congress since the January 6th siege on the U.S. Capitol, where different groups of individuals sought to prevent the certification of the presidential election because they were led by Donald Trump to believe in the lie that the election was stolen. “Should social media companies continue their pattern of negligence, governments must use every power – including new legislation, fines and criminal prosecutions – to stop the harms being created,” says one expert. “Lies cost lives.”
On Thursday, 25 March, two subcomittees of the House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a joint hearing on “the misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify and respond to questions from lawmakers. And Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) has now said that the Senate Judiciary subcommittee he chairs is “very likely” to call Zuckerberg and Dorsey to testify as well, with a focus on how algorithms amplify misinformation and the spread of extremism.
Yaël Eisenstat and Justin Hendrix write in Just Security that
Next Thursday will be the first time the tech CEOs will face Congress since the January 6th siege on the U.S. Capitol, where different groups of individuals incited by disinformation campaigns led by former President Donald Trump and his allies sought to prevent the certification of the presidential election. Questions about the role of the tech platforms in contributing to radicalization and extremism and propagating disinformation related to the election are expected, according to a press release from the Committee. They are also interested in the spread of disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
Eisenstat and Hendrix write that unfortunately, prior Congressional hearings have occasionally highlighted the gap in understanding of tech issues on Capitol Hill, but that there are signs this hearing may go into a substantial level of detail.
“It is important that the American public understand how the design choices and business decisions these companies make helped foment and facilitate the violent attack on democracy on January 6th, and how they contribute to radicalization, extremism and the spread of disinformation generally,” Eisenstat and Hendrix write. “That’s why we asked a range of experts to provide potential questions for lawmakers to pose (see here for the list of respondents, and the questions they suggested lawmakers ask the tech giants). “We encourage readers to propose additional questions by sending suggestions to lte@justsecurity.org. We will add selected readers’ questions to the list with attribution, but let us know if you prefer anonymity.”
“Should social media companies continue their pattern of negligence, governments must use every power – including new legislation, fines and criminal prosecutions – to stop the harms being created,” Imran Ahmed, CEO of Center for Countering Digital Hate wrote in the introduction to his recent report, Malgorithm: How Instagram’s algorithm publishes misinformation and hate to millions during a pandemic. “Lies cost lives.”
