Kermit thank you,
Mr Chairman for holding this
hearing the three witnesses we
have before this committee today
collectively Pose I believe
the single greatest threat
to free speech in America
and the greatest threat we have
to free and fair elections
yesterday I spent a considerable
amount of time speaking with
both Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Chai
have concerns about the behavior
of both of their companies I
would note that Facebook is
at the minimum at least trying
to make some efforts
in the direction of defending
free speech I appreciate
their doing so Google I agree
with the concerns that Senator
Klobuchar raised I think Google
has more power than any company
on the face of the planet
and the
antitrust concerns are real
the impact of Google is profound
and I expect we will have
continued and ongoing
discussions about Google's abuse
of that power and its
willingness to manipulate search
outcomes to influence and change
election results but today I
want to focus my questioning
on Mr Dorsey and on Twitter
because of the three players
before us I think
Twitter's conduct has by far
the most egregious Mr Dorsey
this Twitter have the ability
to influence elections no you
don't believe Twitter has any
ability to influence elections
no we are one part of a full
spectrum of communication
channels that people have.
So you're testified to this
committee right now that that
that Twitter when it silences
people when it censors people
when it blocks political speech
that has no impact on elections
people people have a choice
of other communication channels
with we're not not if they
don't hear information if you
don't think you have the power
to influence elections why do
you block anything Well we have
policies that are focused
on making sure that more voices
on the platform are possible we
see a lot of abuse
and harassment which ends up
silencing people and having them
leave all right Mr Dorsey I find
your opening questions door
opening answers absurd
on their face but let's talk
about
the last two weeks in particular
as you know I have long been
concerned about Twitter's Pac
pattern of censoring
and silencing individual
Americans with whom Twitter
disagrees but two weeks ago
Twitter and to a lesser extent
Facebook crossed a threshold
that is fundamental
in our country two weeks ago
Twitter made the unilateral
decision to censor the New York
Post in a series of two
blockbuster articles both
alleging evidence of corruption
against Joe Biden the first
concerning Ukraine the second
concerning communist China
and Twitter made the decision no
one to prevent users any user
from sharing those stories
and number two you went even
further and blocked the New York
Post from sharing on Twitter its
own reporting why did Twitter
make the decision to censor
the New York Post we had a hack
materials policy what was that
policy adopted in 2018 I believe
in 2018 go ahead what what was
the policy.
So the policy is around limiting
the spread of materials that are
hackable we do not want Twitter
to be a distributor for hacked
materials we found the New York
Post because it showed
the direct materials screenshots
of the correct materials and it
was unclear how those were
obtained that it felt that it
fell under this policy now
so in your view if it's unclear
the source of a documented
in this instance, the New York
Post documented what it said
the source was which it said it
was a laptop owned by Hunter
Biden that had been turned
into a Rob repair store.
So they weren't hiding what they
claimed to be the source is it
your position that Twitter when
you can't tell the source blocks
blocks press stories no not
at all our team made a fast
decision the enforcement action.
However of blocking URLs both
in tweets and in indirect
messages we believe was
incorrect and we changed it
today for the New York Post is
still blocked from tweeting two
weeks later yes they have to log
into their account which they
can do at this minute delete
the original tweet which fell
under our original enforcement
actions and they can tweet
the exact same material
the exact same article and it
would go through so Mr Dorsey
your ability is you have
the power to force a media out
and let's be clear the New York
Post isn't just some random guy
tweeting the New York Post has
the fourth highest circulation
of any newspaper in America the
New York Post is up 200 years
old the New York Post was
founded by Alexander Hamilton
and your position is that you
can sit-in Silicon Valley
and demand of the media that you
can tell them what stories they
can publish and you can tell
the American people what
reporting they can hear is that
right no this was this was a you
know every person every account
every organization that signs up
to Twitter agrees to a terms
of service terms of service
it's media outlets must
genuflect and obey your dictates
if they wish to be able
to communicate with readers is
that right no not at all we know
we recognized an error in this
policy
and specifically the enforcement
you're still blocking
their posts you're still
blocking their posts right now
today you're blocking
their posts we're not blocking
the post anyone can tweet
and the New York Post post
on there too on a Twitter
account if they go
into their account now is
your answer to that.
No unless they are attacked
and agree with your dictates I
may ask you something you
claimed it was
because of unconnected materials
policy.
I find that facially highly
dubious and clearly employed
in a deeply partial way did
Twitter block the distribution
of the New York Times a story
a few weeks ago that purported
to be based on copies
of President Trump's tax returns
we didn't find the violation
of our terms of service
as a policy tickler because I
reporting about the material it
wasn't distributed OK well
that's actually not true that
they posted what they purported
to be original source materials
and federal law a federal
statute makes it a crime
a federal felony to distribute
someone's tax returns against
their knowledge so that material
was based on something that was
distributed in violation
of federal law and yet
Twitter gleefully allowed people
to circulate that about when
the article was critical of Joe
Biden Twitter engaged in rampant
censorship and silencing
and again we recognize there
isn't that policy we changed it
within 24 hours.
This is like your snowball
the New York Post you
haven't changed it we have
changed that they can log
into their account delete
the record you force
the political reporter to take
down his post about the New York
Post as well.
Is that correct within that 24
hour period yes but we
as a policy has changed anyone
can tweet Senator Clinton saying
you so the New York Post you
censor Politico presumably you
can censor the New York Times
or any other media outlet Mr
Gossie who the hell elected you
and put you in charge of what
the media are allowed to report
and what the American people are
allowed to hear and why do you
persist in behaving
as a Democratic super Pac
silencing views to the contrary
your political let's give Mr
Dorsey a few seconds to answer
that and then we have
to conclude this this segment
work we're not doing that
and this is why
I opened this hearing with calls
for more transparency we realize
we need to earn trust more we
realize that more accountability
is needed to show our intentions
and to show the outcomes.
Thank you so I hear the concerns
and acknowledge them when we
want to fix it with more
transparency.