Washington’s War on Misinformation Resumes

The attack on the U.S. Capitol is still fresh in the minds of all Americans—but even more so for members of Congress and their staffers, many of whom were on site as pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed their workplace on Jan. 6. The attack was based on a lie—sometimes referred to as the “Big Lie”—that the election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden. All the major social media platforms eventually banned Donald Trump—at least temporarily. But by that time, the damage was done. On Thursday, lawmakers in the House of Representatives grilled the chief executives of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube about their respective roles in the Jan. 6 attacks, part of a larger conversation about how misinformation spreads on their platforms. The time for self-regulation is over.Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) Despite the serious occasion, the five-and-a-half-hour-long hearing was rambling. The subject matter oscillated between Members’ concerns about the platforms’ legal liability, election and vaccine misinformation, ad targeting, extremism, the addictive nature of the social platforms and children’s safety and privacy online. No responsibility for the attacks One of the hearing's testiest moments came early when Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) asked whether the CEOs took responsibility for what happened at the Capitol. Doyle, like many lawmakers Thursday, asked this as a yes-or-no question, but the CEOs failed to respond accordingly. Facebook CEO Marck Zuckerberg said he thinks the “responsibility here lies with the people who took the actions to break the law and do the insurrection," later mentioning former president Trump as among those responsible. Doyle responded that Facebook and the other platforms "supercharged" election misinformation and the attack. Google CEO Sundar Pichai gave a similar non-answer, but Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, offered some concession. "Yes, but you also have to take into consideration the broader ecosystem." The CEOs are split on Section 230 reform In the last year, Washington’s misinformation debate has centered on Section 230 reform as a possible legislative fix. Both Trump and Biden have expressed some interest in repealing the law, part of the Communications Decency Act, that affords internet companies some legal liability protection for user-generated content posted on their platforms. “The time for self-regulation is over,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.). But while Section 230 reform is popular on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans come at the issue from vastly different perspectives, complicating any lawmaking on the issue. Democrats generally feel social platforms don’t moderate content well enough and allow for extremism, harmful misinformation and hate speech. Republicans typically allege that content moderation discriminates against conservative voices, though there is no evidence that is true. Platforms should be required to demonstrate they have systems in place for identifying unlawful content and removing it.Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO Still, Zuckeberg said that he supports some Section 230 reform for “large platforms” and says social media companies should have to submit regular transparency reports about their moderation efforts. “Instead of being granted immunity, platforms should be required to demonstrate that they have systems in place for identifying unlawful content and removing it,” Zuckerberg said in his prepared remarks. Dorsey said he supports Zuckerberg’s call for better transparency, but is skeptical about where the line falls between large and small platforms. After all, Twitter is a much smaller company—in revenue and userbase—than either Facebook or Google. Pichai said during the hearing that Section 230 is “foundational to the open web” and warned against tampering with it. Congress talks misinformation and advertising There was some chatter about advertising at the hearing, though most online misinformation spreads through organic posts rather than paid ads. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said she will introduce a bill next week called the Civil Rights Modernization Act, which aims to prevent discriminatory targeting of minorities online through advertising. The proposal would amend Section 230 to apply existing civil rights laws to online advertising practices. Zuckerberg told lawmakers that lying is not allowed in Facebook advertising, though the company does not fact check political ads on the platform. In responding to a question about Twitter’s content-moderation practices, Dorsey defended the company’s work as a business decision—not just a societal good. "If we woke up tomorrow and decided to stop moderating content, we'd wind up with a service very few people and advertisers want to use,” Dorsey said. “Enforcing [these] policies is a business decision.” Earlier on Adweek: 5 Key Takeaways After Big Tech CEOs Testify in Meandering Antitrust Hearing