*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.
Tubi Daily News Powered by Cheddar for the morning of November 11th, 2018
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 19, 2018.
These are the top stories, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Michelle Obama's memoir, "Becoming," hit shelves this week, with a rollout that felt more like a concert tour ー including appearances by Oprah, packed stadium events, and near-universal morning TV coverage.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan had a turbulent rollout this week, but the British Trade Commissioner for North America said the path to a successful exit from the European Union is still on track. "So far, we are on course for the path that she set out just after the referendum almost two years ago," Antony Phillipson said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is fighting back after the New York Times published an investigation into how the company failed to address Russian meddling in the 2016 election. California officials doubled the number of people missing as a result of the wildfires to more than 600. And Bill Oliver, director of the new sci-fi drama 'Jonathan,' joins Cheddar to discuss his new film starring Ansel Elgort.
Facebook's latest scandal has raised serious questions about founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's oversight of the troubled media giant.
A federal judge made a limited ruling Friday that the White House must immediately restore press access to CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on Fifth Amendment grounds.
After a machine recount of ballots in the U.S. Senate race in Florida between Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson found them still within a hair's breadth of each other, the state is now endeavoring to recount, by hand, millions of the votes cast. Cheddar's J.D. Durkin reports from Palm Beach County on the latest developments.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 16, 2018.
