US Congress grills Facebook, Twitter and Google executives | DW News

The heads of Facebook, Google and Twitter are being grilled by US Congressional members on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers have criticized the executives for the role their companies often play in the spread of misinformation. Today's hearing is the first since the US Capitol was stormed by pro-Trump rioters in January. The hearing could lead to steps to make the tech giants more accountable for the content they host on their platforms.

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[JR-vcgm]

This is just a show. I'm tired of this bs.

[AccidentalScience]

That congressman posed a complex question asking for yes/no answer. That is just dumb. And even regulations aren't answerable with a simple yes/no because this problem goes well beyond of simply hampering certain extremisms: will freedom of speech be protected? Can companies be subject to a burden that however essentially would give them even more power, the power of policing what people say? And I am just scratching the surface of a very very complex topic.

[whiqeddik]

google and Facebook really hating that last dude right now.

[randomguy-statusunbanned]

"A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke."
- Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I

K10WN W0R1D

[nurainee]

Put the Congress as shareholders, grilling will stop?

[KwameX]

Big Tech only gives a damn about one thing, 💰💰💰💰💰💰 not some politicians

[RahmanZeb]

The picture of Zuckerberg in the thumbnail is quite frightening 😨

[r.p.]

Social media and main stream media need to be liable !

[s.leemccauley]

It is a staged drama. Nothing ever gets better.

[JW-YT]

""you can fix this" no they cant because free-speech, they shouldnt be in the business of controlling their users any more than the phone companies do or other communications companies. I know personal freedom is a strange idea to Germans but you should get on board with it.

The clear line is when speech turns into action, but guess what. Individuals are responsible for their own actions. Makes no difference if they've read something that says X, Y, Z end of they day they make the choice to act.

[Mamasgotabeard]

"Has it been a true grilling?"

[bambootransistor]

Wrong discussion. The problem is censorship, not liability.

[Lohn_Ad]

theres no freedom of speech and also google twitter and face book is an internatuonaly use by the way

[vegahimsa]

I'm all for breaking up Facebook, but not for what is DW considers misinformation or information.

[kemalasaridina]

Well damn. I work for Oracle, so it's sad to see they're still giving out arguments when in fact it's extremely easy for them to just build a list of clearly problematic keywords in their platform to censor. The industry needs to be better regulated.

[suntzu]

Congressman: asks complex question and wants "yes or no" answer:
CEOs: wait, thats

[luddbroth]

just remove the “ like” button from the interface, thats it! That button is ranking our lives! One of the most terrible ideas in modern human history

[stoyas]

If you ask me to answer with yes or no if I had salmon for lunch I could do that, but asking really complex questions and expecting yes or no answer is just dumb.

[tokiouk]

Let corporations control freedom of speech and be the ones to decide what is true and false. Good idea 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[vlaardingerrr]

A complex question u can’t answer it with simple yes or no. The company’s have some sort of control, but to which extent? If you go to far u have censorship. And what if people use (new) slang words? The people posting disinformation should be held accountable with the help of the company’s.