Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Pichai to Testify at Oct. 28 Senate Commerce Hearing

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are to testify remotely at an Oct. 28 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Section 230, the committee announced Friday. A day earlier, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency will begin a rulemaking on Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2010150057). The agency will soon release a blog post about FCC authority to interpret the statute, General Counsel Tom Johnson tweeted Friday. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., welcomed the FCC decision, saying the committee will get more information directly from the CEOs at the Oct. 28 hearing, set for 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen.

House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., recently circulated a discussion draft targeting Section 230 (see 2009250030), which we obtained from her office Friday. The Online Consumer Protection Act would “clarify” that certain terms of service violations are unfair or deceptive acts subject to FTC enforcement. Section 230 wouldn’t apply to violations of the new act.

Twitter shouldn’t have let itself be "bullied into changing” its rules, Schakowsky said responding to the site's handling of a New York Post article on Hunter Biden (see 2010140064). She credited Facebook for upholding rules for third-party fact-checking. Twitter’s initial decision protected users from disinformation, she said. She spoke of the need to impose additional obligations that supersede Section 230 to hold companies like Facebook and Twitter more accountable. Twitter didn't comment.

Pai is “more focused on political attacks on our constitutional rights than the millions of children & families offline during this pandemic,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., tweeted Thursday. “Regrettably, this FCC has shown that it works for the political benefit of the President, & not for the people.”

House Commerce Committee Republicans called Thursday for a hearing on Section 230. The office of Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., didn’t comment Friday. Offices of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., also didn’t comment Friday about future proceedings. The FCC didn’t comment.

Free State Foundation President Randolph May expects the FCC NPRM to focus on clarifying terms like “good faith” and “otherwise objectionable” in Section 230, terms he said Congress didn’t mean to be “interpreted in a way that makes them coextensive.” He expects the FCC to highlight the distinction between First Amendment issues and Section 230 immunity.

“Congress never granted the FCC the power to interpret Section 230,” said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo. “The history and text of the law both confirm that the FCC lacks the authority to regulate the online speech through Section 230.”

Pai is doing the bidding of President Donald Trump, said Common Cause Special Adviser and former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps: “It’s no surprise that the Chairman’s announcement comes weeks before the election when social media platforms are taking more steps to curb the spread of election disinformation.”