Graham: Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Industry Need Content Moderation Guidance

Social media companies need guidance on moderating content, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us in response to questions about Tuesday’s hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Graham’s Earn It Act (S-3398), co-led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., would establish a commission led by the attorney general to develop voluntary best practices for social media companies (see 2008050039).

“We all use their technology,” Graham said in an interview last week. “Every senator is on Facebook and uses Twitter. They’re having to do the impossible without any guidance from anybody” on content moderation. Tech companies “have complete, 100% discretion, and that’s got to be a nightmare for them,” he added. "I think Mark [Zuckerberg] understands that some rules of the road would probably be helpful for the technology to survive and grow.”

It’s “good” Zuckerberg signaled an openness to amending Communications Decency Act Section 230 during a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing, said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in another interview. “There’s growing support [for] reforming or repealing Section 230.”

Zuckerberg’s recent comments on Section 230 are a positive sign, but repealing the statute is “probably” not an option, said Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in an interview. “It’s going to take some work to figure out how to do it right. You’ve got some people that want to eliminate it. I don’t think that’s probably on the table, but we’re going to have to sort through it.”

Facebook has been “most forthcoming in terms of their willingness to come up with solutions,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. He cautioned against giving “false praise.” Zuckerberg has been more amenable than others who “refuse to talk” to Congress, Kennedy told us. “It’s going to be very difficult, not impossible, for us to solve these problems without the input of these platforms.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us she’s scheduled to do preliminary calls with each company before the hearing. Blackburn said her list of questions was too long for the Commerce hearing, so she’s looking forward to another shot before Judiciary. Blackburn’s office drew attention Monday to her letter last week asking FTC Chairman Joe Simons to “interview former employees of Facebook as part of the antitrust investigation into the company’s anticompetitive conduct.” Simons wants to vote the case out soon (see 2011130044).

The companies didn’t comment.

Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., led a Democratic letter Monday to Facebook, urging the company to publish statistics and information about how the platform handles hate speech, specifically “anti-Muslim bigotry.” The Democrats requested results from the company’s civil rights audits.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association defended the tech industry’s liability protections, which let platforms act “against a variety of objectionable online behaviors, including everything from harassment to spam and disinformation to promoting self-harm.” The protections are “critical to services that allow people to connect with family and engage in economic activity online,” said President Matt Schruers. “If consumers disagree with moderation decisions that a particular service makes, there are a wealth of competitors.”