Blumenthal Demands Stronger Action Against Misinformation Ahead of Georgia Elections

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) served as the Ranking Member at today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election.” In his opening remarks, Blumenthal rejected the premise of the hearing as “a political sideshow,” calling it “a betrayal of…real harms and the real victims of them,” and noted that “a series of hearings on Big Tech is long overdue on antitrust issues, on privacy concerns, and Section 230,” including calling Google and Amazon as witnesses. During the hearing, Blumenthal demanded Facebook and Twitter take stronger action to address abuses on their platforms.

“You have built terrifying tools of persuasion and manipulation with power far exceeding the robber barons of the Gilded Age. You have profited largely by strip-mining data about private lives and promoting hate speech and voter suppression,” Blumenthal warned. “You have an immense civic and moral responsibility to ensure these instruments of influence do not irreparably harm our country.”

Blumenthal pressed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take specific steps to protect against the spread of disinformation ahead of the run-off Senate elections in Georgia, noting the presence of “fighting words and hate speech in the last election could inflame violence and send poll workers into hiding, discourage people from coming to the polls.”

Blumenthal focused on “rampant disinformation on social media in Spanish-speaking sites, repeating QAnon conspiracies and false claims of election rigging” and asked for a commitment to improve content moderation policies for Spanish-speaking communities.

Blumenthal demanded Zuckerberg explain why more robust action has not been taken against Steve Bannon, who posted a video calling for the beheading of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Dr. Anthony Fauci as a “warning to federal bureaucrats, you either get with the program or you’re gone.”

“How many times is Steve Bannon allowed to call for the murder of government officials before Facebook suspends his account?” Blumenthal asked.

Blumenthal’s opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, are available here.

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