*By Carlo Versano*
Google is "missing an opportunity" by not sending a top official to Capitol Hill next week to testify on election interference and censorship, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin on Wednesday.
Facebook and Twitter are both sending C-Suite executives ー COO Sheryl Sandberg and CEO Jack Dorsey, respectively ー to testify in front of both chambers on Sept. 5.
So far, Google has said it will only dispatch its general counsel, Kent Walker.
"We need policy makers, not simply their lawyers," Warner said.
The heads of the top social and web platforms will head to the Hill to answer questions about how they are combating misinformation campaigns from state actors like Russia and Iran ahead of the midterm elections. Additionally, they are expected to face pointed questions about censorship ー a topic that President Trump has been pushing, most recently on Wednesday afternoon when he told reporters, "I think they treat Republicans and conservatives very unfairly" and such handling "may not be legal."
That echoes the sentiment of several Trump tweets Tuesday which suggested that Google News technology suppressed conservative views. Economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the White House would look into the matter, but many questioned Trump's statements on their face.
"The president doesn't really understand how search algorithms work," Warner said, noting that content is ranked in searches as a result of computer calculations, not human action.
The last time officials from Facebook, Twitter, and Google testified together ー last November on the topic of Russian hacking ー the reaction from lawmakers was largely negative. Since then, each company has shown a more proactive approach to the policing of their platforms.
Warner said he hopes next week's hearings will be forward-looking. "We want to look at solution sets" for these complex problems, he said.
One day after saying that the COVID-19 task force would be winding down, President Donald Trump says it would continue on indefinitely, but focus on rebooting the economy.
David Banmiller, an airline industry insider and former CEO of Pan Am, doesn't like referring to the $25 billion of relief the airline industry got from the federal government as a 'bailout.'
An Associated Press analysis finds that taking the New York metropolitan area’s progress against the coronavirus out of the equation shows the rest of the U.S. moving in the wrong direction, with the infection rate rising even as states move to lift their lockdowns.
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street but gave up about half of their early gains in a late-afternoon bout of selling. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% Tuesday after being up 2% earlier.
Vice President Mike Pence says the White House coronavirus task force could wind down its work by early June.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told Cheddar on Tuesday that they were not prepared to switch so quickly and have been working well with what they have, but online learning simply isn't the same as teaching in person.
The trip means a small army of advisers, logistical experts and security staff will also resume regularly hitting the road and taking a measure of risk to assist Trump.
Stocks are rallying worldwide on Tuesday as more countries relaxed restrictions on businesses, raising hopes for a recovery from the historic plunge sweeping the global economy.
As governments around the world consider how to monitor new coronavirus outbreaks while reopening their societies, many are starting to bet on smartphone apps to help stanch the pandemic. But their decisions on which technologies to use — and how far those allow authorities to peer into private lives — are highlighting some uncomfortable trade-offs between protecting privacy and public health.
The stock market shook off a weak start and ended with modest gains Monday, thanks to another solid showing from big technology companies.
