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.

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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 20:04 · Kristin Hugo]

It's being reported that the protestor in the hearing was alt-right activist Laura Loomer. The video below shows Congressman Billy Long's creative response. 

[5 September 2018 20:12 · Kristin Hugo]

We’re back on the question of the doctored photo of Meghan McCain. Mr Dorsey says the tweet was up for five hours and was “definitely” a violation of Twitter’s policies. He says they were slower to respond to this tweet because the insult was contained in the image, and not the tweet text itself. But he also notes that the burden usually falls on the victim to report this kind of abuse, and that that needs to change.

[5 September 2018 20:22 · Kristin Hugo]

Congressman Jerry McNerney gets to the heart of what many Democrats are saying about this hearing, calling it a “desperate effort to rally the Republican base before the November elections”. Several Democrats have made similar points before him, suggesting this is a way for Republicans to distract from the ongoing investigations into the president. 

[5 September 2018 20:26 · Kristin Hugo]

That concludes our coverage of the Twitter and Facebook hearings on Capitol Hill today. Thanks so much for following along!