McMorris Rodgers Questions Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Twitter’s Role in Public Discourse 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 5, 2018) – Today, Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), as part of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, questioned Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey on Twitter’s role in the public discourse. In case you missed it, you can watch and download video of her remarks below.

In her testimony, Cathy said, “Today I want to focus on Twitter’s procedures for taking down offensive and inappropriate content… With Meghan McCain there was an altered image of a gun pointing at her when she was mourning the loss of her father. The tweet said, “America this one’s for you.” Obviously, this offensive tweet was reported by other users, even to you I understand. Yet it took, nearly 16 hours for there to be action to take it down. Was this a violation of Twitter’s content policies and rules against violence and physical harm? I would like to understand how much of this is driven by the algorithm versus human content managers?”

She continued, “Clearly you hold a large amount of power in the public discourse, and allowing speech that incites violence could have devastating consequences. This is one way where I believe it’s very important that Twitter take action to help restore trust with the people and your platform.”

NOTE: McMorris Rodgers is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Earlier this year, she also questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s censorship of conservative content and their role in protecting consumer privacy. You can see that testimony here.

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