Google CEO testimony to Congress - LIVE: Sundar Pichai faces a grilling on privacy and China
Weeks before Democrats take over control of the House of Representatives, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are set to question Google CEO Sundar Pichai on issues including transparency, data collection, and filtering.
The hearing is one of the latest of several hearings Republicans have set up with tech company executives, which they have said show liberal bias in their dealings.
Google refused to send a representative the last time that the Judiciary interviewed the top brass of social media companies, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. But, since then, the Mr Pichai has held closed door meetings with members of Congress to discuss what Republicans have branded as liberal bias at Google.
Ranking member Jerry Nadler is now giving his opening remarks, after Mr Goodlatte thanked Mr Pichai for attending the hearing.
Mr Nadler has called the idea that Google and other tech companies have anti-conservative bias a "fantasy". He said that he expects Republicans to bring up anecdotes, but that they will provide little evidence of an anti-conservative bias.
Mr Nadler, on the other hand, has suggested that they should be concerned about online efforts to spread disinformation. He referenced the 2016 election, in which Russia attacked the US elections in favour of President Donald Trump.
Chairman Goodlatte is hitting on a lot of issues here, and has now mentioned that Android smartphones are able to collect a massive amount of data from users during the course of the day.
That includes tracking data on movement, and even the mode of transport that someone may take.
Chairman Goodlatte has now said he is interested in how Google handles objectionable content.
He also has mentioned algorithmic screening, and the dangers that tinkering with that system could have. He then claimed that some Google employees have considered tinkering with the algorithm.
Mr McCarthy is now discussing the reported plan by Google to open a censored search engine in China. He then discussed political suppression by the Chinese Communist Party, and suggested that those values run counter to the values of Americans.
Mr McCarthy cited a Wall Street Journal statistic that said that 90 per cent of internet searches goes through Google.
He has also said that there is a widening gap of trust between users and technology companies. He went on to suggest that political biases must not seep into Google's search product.
In attendance in Washington today is Alex Jones, the conservative conspiracy theorist who has had plenty of problems with social media over the past year.
Jones was in attendance the last time tech CEOs came to testify before Congress, and tends to get into squabbles with folks on a regular basis.
We'll see if any Jones news comes out of today's hearing when the Judiciary Committee calls a recess.
