*By Conor White*
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg may have been grilled by Congress this week, but it was the company that ditched the hearings altogether that emerged as the loser.
"If any company came out looking bad yesterday, it was probably Google," tech and social media expert Lance Ulanoff said Thursday in an interview on Cheddar.
Lawmakers wanted Google's CEO Sundar Pichai or Larry Page, head of parent company Alphabet, to testify, but only chief lawyer Kent Walker was offered, a concession that Congress ultimately [rejected](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-04/google-touts-election-steps-as-senate-panel-rejects-its-witness).
"It makes Google look like they don't care, or they're afraid," CNET News executive editor Ian Sherr told Cheddar Thursday. "And what happens is that it's going to cause Congress ー if they're really bothered, they're going to compel Google to come to The Hill."
"I certainly got the sense that there is a boiling kind of frustration at Google already on The Hill, and this did not help at all," he added.
As Wednesday's hearings unfolded, Attorney General Jeff Sessions [announced](https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2018/09/06/wsj-city-wall-street-and-washington-put-pressure-on-social-media-fbi-probes-amex-foreign-exchange/) an official review of social media companies, probing whether Twitter and Facebook are operating in good faith. The investigation follows President Trump's claims in July that Twitter was ["shadow banning"](https://cheddar.com/videos/twitter-accused-of-shadow-banning-conservatives) conservatives by deliberately limiting the exposure of their posts.
Tech stocks fell in U.S. trading after Sessions's announcement and continued their slide on Thursday
"That kind of action could harm \[Twitter or Facebook\]," Ulanoff said. "If the Justice Department comes back and says 'this is happening' or they just pressure the company, that's going to hurt Twitter and could change Facebook, and that's got to be the fear."
As for Wednesday's hearings, both Sherr and Ulanoff agreed they were necessary fact-finding missions, pointing out that it can be exceedingly difficult to get any information out of companies as secretive as theirs.
"Silicon Valley's very opaque," Sherr said. "They don't share how the algorithms work, they don't share how the computer programs are written, they don't even share their policies very well."
The execs answered questions on troll farms, foreign actors, and identifying and eliminating fake news. Both faced the Senate, while Dorsey addressed the House alone in a separate hearing.
Still, Ulanoff thinks the social media giants are on the right track ー and the government may even learn something through the process.
"I came away thinking maybe these tech companies are doing more than the government to protect the voting process in the midterm elections." he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/getting-technical-on-the-hill).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
