The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday to take testimony from Facebook, Alphabet's YouTube unit and Twitter on whether social media companies are filtering content for political reasons.
Republicans in Congress have criticized social media companies for what they claim are politically motivated practices in removing some content, a charge the companies have rejected.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte said in a statement on Friday that he was pleased the companies will send experts "to answer questions on their content moderation practices and how they can be better stewards of free speech in the United States and abroad."
Twitter declined to comment. Facebook on Friday confirmed they would participate but declined further comment. Alphabet did not comment.
Republicans repeatedly suggested at the hearing that the companies are censoring or blocking content from conservatives, a charge the companies rejected.
Lawmakers from both parties agreed tech companies must remove illegal content like fraud, piracy and sex trafficking but differed on whether they should remove objectionable content. |