- A Senate committee voted Thursday to subpoena the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google to compel them to testify before Congress.
- The CEOs will face questions about concerns over Section 230, a law that shields social media companies from being held liable for the content of users’ posts, as well as privacy and antitrust concerns.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were previously invited to testify before the committee voluntarily. Senators voted to subpoena the CEOs after they didn’t willingly agree to testify.
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A Senate committee voted Thursday to subpoena the CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter to make them testify before congress after the executives didn’t agree to appear voluntarily.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will be compelled to answer questions from the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee about concerns over Section 230, a law that shields social media companies from being held liable for the content of users’ posts.
Representatives for Facebook, Google, and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CEOs were previously asked to testify before by committee chairman Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi. A spokesperson for Wicker told Business Insider last week that the Senator planned to move to subpoena the CEOs if they didn’t willingly agree to testify.
While some Senators didn’t initially support Wicker’s plans, the committee ultimately voted unanimously to issue subpoenas Thursday.
Democrats have called for Section 230 to be amended to force social media companies to take a firmer stance to moderate hate speech and misinformation on their platforms, while Republicans — including President Donald Trump — have taken aim at the law over perceived anti-conservative bias by big tech companies.