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| Google CEO testifies to Congress on political bias claims – live | Google CEO testifies to Congress on political bias claims – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The back-and-forth between Lamar Smith and Sundar Pichai is indicative of the unreasonableness of certain Republicans on the largely specious question of partisan bias in search results. Smith raised some questionable studies; Pichai pointed out that Google disagrees with their methodology. Smith: “What does methodology have to do with the fact that 96% of the references to Trump are from liberal media?”Pichai doesn’t respond, but methodology has a lot to do with that “fact”. Smith: “You never sanctioned any employee for manipulating the search results.”Pichai: “It’s not possible for an individual or groups of employees to manipulate our search results…”Smith: “I disagree.” | |
| Pichai has been asked about steps he will take to counter right wing extremism on You Tube. | |
| Google CEO @sundarpichai is asked by Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler what the company is doing to combat white supremacism and right-wing extremism on YouTube. Pichai says there are policies against hate speech and, "If we find any violations, we will take down the content." | |
| Pichai’s prepared testimony, which he is reading now, is focused on parrying the allegations of political bias: | |
| “I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way. To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests. We are a company that provides platforms for diverse perspectives and opinions—and we have no shortage of them among our own employees. Some of our Googlers are former servicemen and women who have risked much in defense of our country. Some are civil libertarians who fiercely defend freedom of expression. Some are parents who worry about the role technology plays in our households. Some—like me—are immigrants to this country, profoundly grateful for the freedoms and opportunities it offers. Some of us are many of these things.” | |
| The opening statements from Kevin McCarthy, Bob Goodlatte and Jerry Nadler give a preview of the major issues that we’ll hear about today. McCarthy, who spoke as a witness, focused on Google’s Project Dragonfly, a plan to produce a censored search engine for China. “Are America’s tech companies serving as instruments of freedom or instruments of control?” McCarthy asked. Goodlatte, who appears well versed in how Google’s products work, noted, “Google is able to collect an amount of information about its users that would even make the NSA blush.”He also spent several minutes discussing the troubling nature of “allegations Google manipulates its algorithms to favor the political party its likes, the ideas it likes or the products it likes” – allegations that he offered no evidence for. Nadler points out that “no credible evidence supports this rightwing conspiracy theory”, but that will not stop Republican representatives from spending a considerable amount of time on it today. | |
| Sunder Pichai is now reading his prepared testimony which is available here. | |
| Both Bob Goodlatte, the outgoing chair of the Judiciary Committee and Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat who will take over in January, have given opening statements and Pichai will now begin his prepared remarks | |
| Google CEO Sunder Pichai has taken his seat in the House Judiciary hearing room and opening statements have begun before his testimony. | Google CEO Sunder Pichai has taken his seat in the House Judiciary hearing room and opening statements have begun before his testimony. |
| Several Democratic senators sent a letter to the White House yesterday asking questions about Fox News’s bonus payments to top communications aide Bill Shine. | Several Democratic senators sent a letter to the White House yesterday asking questions about Fox News’s bonus payments to top communications aide Bill Shine. |
| Shine left Fox News last year after facing allegations that he helped cover up serial sexual harassment by Roger Ailes. | Shine left Fox News last year after facing allegations that he helped cover up serial sexual harassment by Roger Ailes. |
| As CNBC reports: | As CNBC reports: |
| The senators’ letter is addressed to acting White House counsel Emmet Flood. In it, the lawmakers argue that the payments Shine received when he departed the network and the millions he continues to rake in may be in breach of ethic laws. | The senators’ letter is addressed to acting White House counsel Emmet Flood. In it, the lawmakers argue that the payments Shine received when he departed the network and the millions he continues to rake in may be in breach of ethic laws. |
| “21st Century’s Fox’s previous and ongoing payments to Mr. Shine of millions of dollars in severance payments raise questions about his compliance with federal conflict of interest statutes and regulations,” they wrote. | “21st Century’s Fox’s previous and ongoing payments to Mr. Shine of millions of dollars in severance payments raise questions about his compliance with federal conflict of interest statutes and regulations,” they wrote. |
| Mitch McConnell has just announced that Senate will take up criminal justice reform legislation. | Mitch McConnell has just announced that Senate will take up criminal justice reform legislation. |
| The First Step Act had been pushed by President Donald Trump but had divided the Senate Republican caucus. However, a majority of Senate Republicans eventually have embraced the deal, which is expected to be supported by most Democrats. | The First Step Act had been pushed by President Donald Trump but had divided the Senate Republican caucus. However, a majority of Senate Republicans eventually have embraced the deal, which is expected to be supported by most Democrats. |
| McConnell says Senate will take up criminal justice bill as early as the end of this week | McConnell says Senate will take up criminal justice bill as early as the end of this week |
| Tablet Magazine has an impressive investigation inside the Women’s March with some shocking revelations about the umbrella group that sponsored anti-Trump protests the day after the inauguration in 2017. | Tablet Magazine has an impressive investigation inside the Women’s March with some shocking revelations about the umbrella group that sponsored anti-Trump protests the day after the inauguration in 2017. |
| The group’s co-chairs have repeatedly made anti-semitic remarks and it has contracted with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam to provide security. Anti-semitism first raised its head in the group’s initial meeting | The group’s co-chairs have repeatedly made anti-semitic remarks and it has contracted with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam to provide security. Anti-semitism first raised its head in the group’s initial meeting |
| It was there that, as the women were opening up about their backgrounds and personal investments in creating a resistance movement to Trump, Perez and Mallory allegedly first asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people—and even, according to a close secondhand source, claimed that Jews were proven to have been leaders of the American slave trade. These are canards popularized by The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, a book published by Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam—“the bible of the new anti-Semitism,” according to Henry Louis Gates Jr., who noted in 1992: “Among significant sectors of the black community, this brief has become a credo of a new philosophy of black self-affirmation.” | It was there that, as the women were opening up about their backgrounds and personal investments in creating a resistance movement to Trump, Perez and Mallory allegedly first asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people—and even, according to a close secondhand source, claimed that Jews were proven to have been leaders of the American slave trade. These are canards popularized by The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, a book published by Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam—“the bible of the new anti-Semitism,” according to Henry Louis Gates Jr., who noted in 1992: “Among significant sectors of the black community, this brief has become a credo of a new philosophy of black self-affirmation.” |
| Things seem very calm and normal outside the House Judiciary Committee before Sunder Pichai’s testimony | Things seem very calm and normal outside the House Judiciary Committee before Sunder Pichai’s testimony |
| Police told Alex Jones if he doesn’t calm down he’ll be arrested pic.twitter.com/FdwJpN8UP8 | Police told Alex Jones if he doesn’t calm down he’ll be arrested pic.twitter.com/FdwJpN8UP8 |
| Nancy Pelosi is reportedly discussing a deal to limit her tenure as Speaker to four years with Democratic rebels. | Nancy Pelosi is reportedly discussing a deal to limit her tenure as Speaker to four years with Democratic rebels. |
| The septuagenarian Pelosi who needs the support of 218 Democrats on the floor in January had previously refused to back any term limits. | The septuagenarian Pelosi who needs the support of 218 Democrats on the floor in January had previously refused to back any term limits. |
| Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai will testify before Congress this morning as my colleague Julia Carrie Wong reports: | Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai will testify before Congress this morning as my colleague Julia Carrie Wong reports: |
| Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, is set to testify before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday morning, three months after his company thumbed its nose at Congress by failing to appear alongside Facebook and Twitter at a Senate hearing on election interference. | Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, is set to testify before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday morning, three months after his company thumbed its nose at Congress by failing to appear alongside Facebook and Twitter at a Senate hearing on election interference. |
| Pichai will probably face questions on data and privacy issues, Google’s controversial plan to build a censored search engine for China, and allegations of partisan political bias – a subject of outsized fixation for Republican lawmakers. | Pichai will probably face questions on data and privacy issues, Google’s controversial plan to build a censored search engine for China, and allegations of partisan political bias – a subject of outsized fixation for Republican lawmakers. |
| In written testimony released on Monday, Pichai appeared intent on countering the narrative, which has been baselessly promoted by Donald Trump and other Republican politicians, that Google is suppressing conservative viewpoints on its platforms. | In written testimony released on Monday, Pichai appeared intent on countering the narrative, which has been baselessly promoted by Donald Trump and other Republican politicians, that Google is suppressing conservative viewpoints on its platforms. |
| Mark Meadows tells reporters that he has yet to talk about the position of White House chief of staff that he has been floated for. | Mark Meadows tells reporters that he has yet to talk about the position of White House chief of staff that he has been floated for. |
| On his way to weekly GOP conference meeting, @RepMarkMeadows says he’s still had no new conversations w/ White House about the Chief of Staff job | On his way to weekly GOP conference meeting, @RepMarkMeadows says he’s still had no new conversations w/ White House about the Chief of Staff job |
| Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who has been mooted as a potential primary challenger to Trump, has struck some unsubtle never-Trump notes while speaking at a conference of conservative Trump skeptics this morning. | Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who has been mooted as a potential primary challenger to Trump, has struck some unsubtle never-Trump notes while speaking at a conference of conservative Trump skeptics this morning. |
| Right now at a Niskanan Center conference on "Starting Over: The Center-Right after Trump, @LarryHogan is praising his father, the late Rep. Lawrence Hogan, for being one of the first congressional Republicans to come out for Nixon impeachment | Right now at a Niskanan Center conference on "Starting Over: The Center-Right after Trump, @LarryHogan is praising his father, the late Rep. Lawrence Hogan, for being one of the first congressional Republicans to come out for Nixon impeachment |
| Trump supporters in New Hampshire are contemplating an effort to change state party rules and allow the New Hampshire GOP to formally endorse Trump’s re-election. | Trump supporters in New Hampshire are contemplating an effort to change state party rules and allow the New Hampshire GOP to formally endorse Trump’s re-election. |
| The change would be a major break in tradition in the first-in-the-nation primary state and further stack the deck against any 2020 primary challenger to Trump. | The change would be a major break in tradition in the first-in-the-nation primary state and further stack the deck against any 2020 primary challenger to Trump. |
| A former Trump campaign staffer who accused the campaign of sexual harassment has been ordered to pay almost $25,000 for violating a nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s 2016 campaign. | A former Trump campaign staffer who accused the campaign of sexual harassment has been ordered to pay almost $25,000 for violating a nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s 2016 campaign. |
| Jessica Denson had previously sued to void that agreement claiming that she suffered “pervasive slander, aggravated harassment, attempted theft, cyberbullying and sexual discrimination and harassment” from her supervisor. | Jessica Denson had previously sued to void that agreement claiming that she suffered “pervasive slander, aggravated harassment, attempted theft, cyberbullying and sexual discrimination and harassment” from her supervisor. |
| The campaign took her to an arbitration proceeding where Denson did not participate where it was awarded $24,808 . The former staffer is now suing Trump’s campaign over the arbitrator’s award | The campaign took her to an arbitration proceeding where Denson did not participate where it was awarded $24,808 . The former staffer is now suing Trump’s campaign over the arbitrator’s award |
| Good morning. | Good morning. |
| Donald Trump is meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi at the White House today about a looming government shutdown, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is testifying on Capitol Hill and Paul Manafort’s lawyers will appear in court in Washington this afternoon. | Donald Trump is meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi at the White House today about a looming government shutdown, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is testifying on Capitol Hill and Paul Manafort’s lawyers will appear in court in Washington this afternoon. |
| It’s Tuesday in American politics. | It’s Tuesday in American politics. |