Two weeks ago, Senate Republicans criticized Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook policies that supposedly
censor conservative material.
This morning, the House Judiciary Committee followed up with a hearing about whether Facebook, Google and Twitter suppress speech by blocking users --
particularly those with right-wing opinions.
What transpired was "stupid and ridiculous." That's according to Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California), who chimed in after nearly two hours of testimony,
during which conservative personalities "Diamond and Silk" repeatedly claimed they had been blocked by Facebook.
"This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing," Lieu said.
Lieu added
that there was a "fundamental problem" with the hearing: The First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring speech, but doesn't prevent private companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter
from deciding what to publish.
Lieu then entered into an exchange with Berin Szoka, president of the libertarian organization TechFreedom, who was one of the witnesses.
"We don't tell
Fox News what to filter, right?"
Szoka answered in the affirmative.
"And we can't tell Facebook what content to filter ... right?"
Szoka again answered affirmatively.
"We can't force Facebook to carry Diamond and Silk if they choose not to, isn't that right?" Lieu asked.
"Correct," Szoka said.
"I've seen places that regulate content on the
internet and the media," Lieu added. "North Korea, Russia, Iran. We don't want to be like that."
But some other lawmakers appeared aggrieved by tech companies' filtering policies.
Rep.
Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), who opposes abortion rights, again complained that she was briefly prevented by Twitter from running an election video-ad that the company deemed inflammatory.
"Last October, Twitter blocked my campaign launch video from its ads platform, due to my pro-life message," she said in her written testimony. "This ban threatened the fundamental freedom to engage in political speech."
Although Blackburn and other Republicans have suggested that they were victims of liberal bias, one witness at today's hearing -- New York Law School professor Ari Waldman -- debunked the notion
that tech companies are inclined to suppress conservative speech.
"Lots of content gets filtered out, but no more so from the right than from the left," he said in his written testimony.
"When victims of racist, homophobic, and sexist tweets and comments post those
comments to call out the aggressors, it is often the victims that are suspended or banned," he stated. "Activists associates with the Black Lives Matter movement have reported just as many if not more
take downs of images discussing racism and police brutality than any of the anecdotal evidence of suspensions or take downs on the right."