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The Justice Ministry warned on Wednesday that leading tech companies could "intentionally suppress the free exchange of ideas" and hurt competition, a worrying development for an industry already under fire from Capitol Hill, President Trump and several conservative critics .
The two-sentence statement, which did not specify the allegation or explicitly threaten a lawsuit, echoed Trump's tweets last week claiming that the tech sector was biased against the Conservatives. The White House has subsequently threatened a new regulation by Google search giant, which, according to legal experts, would violate constitutional protections over freedom of expression.
The Justice Department made its announcement at the end of a Senate hearing in which Facebook and Twitter leaders were confronted with many questions, including allegations that social media would not allow to make the Conservatives' voice heard. Google proposed to send a leader to the hearing, but the Senate committee rejected him because he wanted the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, to appear.
The combination of government action, including an upcoming meeting between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and several attorneys general, has alarmed the technology industry. For almost two years, he has been fighting allegations that he has failed to effectively combat the spread of misinformation and misinformation of Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
Outside legal experts have expressed concern that mounting political pressure on allegations of unproven prejudice would eventually stifle the speeches protected by the Constitution by technology companies.
"This could be a very serious threat to the entire Internet sector, coordinated by multiple levels of government," said Eric Goldman, co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, Silicon. Valley.
The meeting with state attorneys general "will discuss a growing concern that these companies could harm competition and intentionally quash the free exchange of ideas on their platforms," according to the release of the Ministry of Finance. Justice.
He noted that government lawyers had listened to the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing "carefully", although issues of bias played a relatively limited role in the hearing. The subject was the subject of a subsequent debate on Wednesday afternoon before the House Energy and Commerce Committee with only Twitter.
[Facebook and Twitter testified before Congress. Conservative conspiracy theorists lurked behind them.]
Meeting of Sessions with state attorneys general, scheduled before Wednesday's hearing but not announced Wednesday, is scheduled for September 25 in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans and not allowed to speak in public . Justice officials have declined to say which states would be represented, but the attorneys general of several states have been investigating technology companies in the past two years.
The sessions are regularly the subject of public criticism by Trump, but he has also been one of the most loyal supporters of the president, particularly on issues of politics such as immigration and the maintenance of order. Wednesday's statement on social media companies is another example in which he echoed the points made earlier by the president.
Google, Twitter and Facebook have all declined to comment in response to the Justice Department's statement. All three have repeatedly denied that political views shape the content that appears on their platforms.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, "Impartiality is our guiding principle."
In his written testimony before the hearing, he cited a study of the company that concluded that the tweets of Democratic and Republican lawmakers had the same scope.
Technology companies have, since 2016, been more aggressive in combating hate speech, fake accounts and misinformation campaigns by foreign governments. The removal of conservative theorist Alex Jones from several social media platforms last month fueled claims that corporations were targeting conservative voices, although he was removed for breaking the rules against hate speech – not for the political inclination of his posts. .
Conservative critics of the industry have not presented systematic evidence to support their claims.
[Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased]
Legal experts on Wednesday dismissed the statement of the Department of Justice's unusual and potential threat to the rights of technology companies the First Amendment, which could change their behavior because of the implied threat of ## 147 ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # 39, action by federal and state investigators.
"It's not clear what they are investigating. If they investigate companies for no clear reason, it is possible that the investigations themselves will stifle freedom of expression, "said Alex Abdo, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. "The DOJ, without clear implication of mistakes, should not interfere."
The combination of legal theories advanced by the Justice Department's statement has also intrigued legal experts.
They stated that the market power of large technology companies posed legitimate problems that would merit further consideration by the government, particularly with respect to companies that use their power in a retail market. The European Union has investigated these problems and, in July, Google was fined $ 5 billion for bundling apps on its Android mobile operating system, which compromised competition .
But legal experts say that the first amendment protects the government against technology companies in the dissemination of news or political opinions. They said the Justice Department's lawyers would have trouble preparing a case to limit these rights to freedom of expression.
"They're just throwing a lot of things to the wall to see if that sticks," said Heather Whitney, Ph.D. candidate at New York University, who this year wrote an influential article on freedom of expression companies and technology. A DOJ spokesman declined to comment.
The Justice Department's statement came after months of threats from the president to regulate or investigate the country's technology companies following allegations of bias. In July, he accused Twitter of deliberately hiding the tweets of Republican users, pledging to "look into this discriminatory and illegal practice" without providing more details.
Then, last month, Trump claimed that Google rigged the results of his research before one of his senior advisers suggested that the White House could soon consider new regulations. The president subsequently seemed to come back to this idea.
[Trump’s economic adviser: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated]
Last week, however, Trump told Bloomberg News that technology companies, including Amazon and Facebook, were in a "very antitrust situation", although he did not try to separate them. He also aired the complaints at a rally in Evansville, India, saying to his supporters, "I say our country can not tolerate political censorship, blacklisting, and rigged research.
Earlier on Wednesday, Capitol Hill's Democrats and Republicans focused their attention on other issues, including whether Facebook, Twitter, and its peers hardened themselves against the misinformation of foreign powers before the election. 2018.
Facebook operations director Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter general manager Jack Dorsey defended the work of their companies after Russian agents reached millions of Americans with conflicting political messages during the presidential race two years earlier.
"We were too slow to spot that and too slow to act. It's about us, "Sandberg told the Senate Intelligence Committee. "This interference was totally unacceptable. He has violated the values of our society and the country we love. "
Among those who attended the hearing, there was Jones, who insulted Senator Marco Rubio, then verbally attacked a CNN reporter in the hallway – a deluge of taunts that he broadcast live. It ceased a few minutes before House lawmakers convened a hearing on allegations of anti-Conservative bias, where Dorsey, the only witness of the session, sought to emphasize the political neutrality of the society.
"Humans build algorithms. Humans make decisions about the terms of service of Twitter … and humans can make mistakes, "said Representative Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Chairman of the Energy and Trade Committee of the House, to open the hearing.
But Democrats have sharply criticized Republicans, including the president, for spreading allegations of conservative bias without presenting evidence. Frank Pallone MP, the Democratic legislator on the panel, called the hearing "an additional mechanism for raising funds and indignation" from Republicans.
"It seems like Republicans are desperately trying to rally their base by fabricating a problem that simply does not exist," Pallone said.
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