Twitter and Facebook executives testify before Congress – as it happened

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey delivers opening statement at Tech senate hearing and live tweets

Five months after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress, the US government once again invited tech executives to a series of high profile hearings.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey first faced the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, before Mr Dorsey was questioned on his own by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Notably absent from the proceedings was Google, after the firm failed to send a senior executive to Washington. In place of a Google representative, the Senate committee left an empty chair.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.

The hearings went slightly better than Mr Zuckerberg's venture to the Capitol in April, when members of Congress needed explanations of some of the platform's basic functions. This time, they challenged the executives with hard-hitting questions about foreign actors and political bias.

The questioning was interrupted several times by conservative media figures like Alex Jones and Laura Loomer. Both were escorted out of the hearing, but continued broadcasting their views loudly to reporters waiting in the hallways.

Key Points

• Silicon Valley execs head to Washington to face questions about foreign influence on their platforms 
• Far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones turns up at hearing
• Google refuses to send senior executive, so an empty chair is left in their place
• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey live tweets his opening remarks

[5 September 2018 16:00 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Here's a link to his live Twitter video:

[5 September 2018 16:02 · anthony.cuthbertson]

"Beep beep beep beep I'm a Russian bot beep beep beep beep," Jones says, in a bizarre performance in front of the camera.

[5 September 2018 16:03 · anthony.cuthbertson]

He's now ranting about how Senator Rubio is probably attracted to him. "He likes married men," he says

[5 September 2018 16:05 · anthony.cuthbertson]

The hearing is back underway, but Jones is still outside doing his best impression of a robot. 

"Yes, defeat the democrats... how evil of you master, beep beep beep," he says.

[5 September 2018 16:10 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Alex Jones says he is there to speak to Jack Dorsey, but hasn't yet been able to corner the Twitter boss. 

He's now heading back into the Senate hearing, keeping the Twitter live stream rolling. 

Coincidentally, Dorsey – the man whose platform is actually enabling this ridiculous live stream – is speaking as Jones enters.

[5 September 2018 16:12 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Finally the Jones' live stream is shut down, after whoever was filming was kicked out of the Senate hearing.

[5 September 2018 16:15 · anthony.cuthbertson]

This hearing has not been good for Twitter's business, with its stock tanking since it began less than two hours ago.

[5 September 2018 16:25 · anthony.cuthbertson]

A similar but less severe fate has befallen the Facebook stock price since the hearing began. 

[5 September 2018 16:33 · anthony.cuthbertson]

I didn't spot this, but Jack Dorsey appears to be sporting a nose ring.

[5 September 2018 16:41 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Senator Angus King raises the issue of Deep Fakes, which Sandberg says is a serious concern for Facebook. 

As with most problems faced by the social network, the COO says a combination of AI and human oversight is the key to tackling it.

If you're not familiar with Deep Fakes, they're video clips that swap the subject's face with another person's.

So far, they've mostly been used in porn to superimpose celebrity faces onto those of adult film stars, but they are now creeping their way onto news clips that are shared across social media.

Imagine what such technology could do to the spread of misinformation online. Like Fake News, but supercharged.