Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey faced skeptical questions at a Wednesday House hearing convened because of Republican allegations of an anti-conservative bias on the platform.
Why it matters: President Trump has seized on the concerns of anti-conservative censorship over the last week — publicly blasting web companies — despite a lack of evidence of platforms intentionally build bias into their systems.
What they're saying:
Democrats pushed back on the bias allegations, with top committee Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone saying that Republicans were "trying to rally their base by fabricating a problem that simply does not exist."
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushed Dorsey on what he's doing to get rid of harassment online. "I understand there are algorithms, I understand that there have to be checks and balances, but really it shouldn’t take hours for something that's that egregious to come down," said Republican Rep. Michael Burgess of a recent doctored image that of a daughter of the late Sen. John McCain.
But but but: Even during tense moments of questioning, the hearing has lacked the fireworks of some earlier Capitol Hill conversations about alleged bias on social media, save for when a protestor briefly disrupted the proceedings.
