On October 28, 2020, CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter are going to testify virtually before Congress on antitrust issues, more specifically data privacy and media consolidation, reports The Verge. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have all agreed to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee. The three CEOs have agreed to testify voluntarily, although one day earlier, the committee had voted to issue subpoenas, to order them to appear to the hearing.
These hearings are not a rarity these days. In July, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared on another such hearing, regarding antitrust concerns.
This time, the hearing will reportedly focus on protections to websites under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, along with addressing data privacy issues and media consolidation.
.@Jack has voluntarily agreed to testify virtually before the @SenateCommerce Committee on October 28 — less than a week before the US Presidential Election.
It must be constructive & focused on what matters most to the American people: how we work together to protect elections
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) October 2, 2020
The aforementioned Section 230 prevents interactive computer services, such as social media websites, for being held responsible as a publisher of third-party content. This means that Section 230 protects websites from lawsuits in case a user posts something illegal, although an exception to the rule is the case of someone posting misinformation on one of these social media sites.
