WASHINGTON — Lawmakers grilled public policy officials from two of the largest tech companies in the United States, Google and Meta, on the alleged “jawboning” they endured during the Biden administration and other policies during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Jawboning is described as indirect coercion by the government of others to censor and take down posts that government officials dislike.
The hearing was a continuation of the committee’s hearing earlier this month on the Biden administration’s alleged censorship of tech companies, where committee members discussed Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the temporary suspension of television host Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.
Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused the tech companies of bias against conservatives and being influenced by the Biden administration. He also accused Google of taking down a YouTube video that compiled clips from presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump that suggested fraud during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
“I don’t think a tech monopoly should be deciding what the American citizens get to hear and what they don’t get to hear, particularly given your heavy ideological bias,” Cruz said.
Markham Erickson, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, clarified multiple times that Google took action against claims of widespread election fraud once elections were certified.
“We felt it was appropriate to take down allegations of widespread fraud because of potential real-world harm at that moment,” Erickson said. “When that time had dissipated, we did believe it was appropriate to deprecate that policy and allow for that discussion.”
The attacks from Republican senators towards Google and Meta continued with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) questioning Neil Potts, the vice president of public policy at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
“You say mistakes happen, but your mistakes always happen against conservatives,” Blackburn said.
Potts responded to her earlier claims that Meta has spent $20 million on lobbying against bills that make it safer for children to go online. She said Meta has made a “playground for pedophiles.”
“We’ve worked tirelessly with law enforcement to remove that type of content from our platform,” Potts said.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) pointed to President Trump’s threats to use the Department of Justice to prosecute tech companies. He suggested that Meta’s recent policy changes were influenced by Trump’s threats.
“My Republican colleagues have spent endless time and resources concocting elaborate conspiracies about online censorship of conservatives, yet they have ignored the real threat staring them in the face: President Trump’s explicit threats to prosecute Mark Zuckerberg and Google,” Markey said.
Markey soon found himself in heated discourse with Cruz about the ongoing government shutdown, which has now reached its 29th day.
“Beginning on November 1st, 20 million Americans are going to get the notices that they’re either losing their health care insurance or it’s going to dramatically skyrocket,” Markey said. “That is a discussion that is hard to have with Republicans since the House has not been in session for six weeks.”
Cruz responded that he had spoken out about the increase in the cost of health insurance premiums.
“Senator Markey will recall I stood on the Senate floor for 21 hours saying that is exactly what would happen, that premiums would skyrocket,” Cruz said.
Despite the partisanship, some senators made positive references to bipartisan legislation. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) mentioned the progress she’s had in working with Cruz, Blackburn, and other Republican senators, including the passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act on nonconsensual sexual images.
Klobuchar had her own encounter with an artificial intelligence deepfake video made of her earlier this year, prompting her to work on a bill with Republicans that gives people greater control over their intellectual property rights regarding AI.
“I do appreciate Google and YouTube support for the NO FAKES Act that Senator Blackburn and Senator Coons and Senator Tillis and I have, and I think it’s very important legislation right now,” Klobuchar said.
