Internet juggernauts Google, Facebook, and Twitter denied allegations of being biased while blocking content in accordance with their policies but still apologized for previous mishaps stemming from those activities as part of a Tuesday hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Florida Democrat Ted Deutch specifically criticized Facebook over its decision to not block content from InfoWars, a controversial conspiracy theory website that the social media giant refuses to outright ban from its platform. Facebook global policy chief Monika Bickert said the company is adamant to continue limiting the reach of such media but won’t censor them more aggressively due to its insistence on upholding the values of free speech.
The companies were also questioned about allegations that they have a liberal bias and have been systematically censoring right-leaning content for years, with all of them dismissing such notions as frivolous. The executives from all three firms admitted their algorithms meant to automatically flag potentially illegal, misleading, and factually inaccurate content aren’t always accurate but added those solutions will improve moving forward. Facebook in particular has been struggling with combating what’s commonly referred to as “fake news” on its platform over the last 18 months and while its war against misinformation became significantly more aggressive in recent times, lawmakers around the world are still pressuring it to do more.
Combined with the controversy stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, both Facebook and other Internet giants are currently facing major public scrutiny and may end up being hit with additional regulations moving forward. Facebook, Google, and Twitter remain firm in their stance that they aren’t responsible for the content posted by their users and while they’re doing their best to remove anything that’s illegal or can be classified as fake news, they can’t be sued for having hosted such creations. U.S. lawmakers are likely to hold more hearings on the matter in the coming months as they’re deliberating stricter laws regulating digital companies.