give thanks the god for Lindsey Graham ’s allegedspinelesscriminality . Without the presence of the senator from South Carolina , today ’s Big Tech hearing on censoring and election interference on societal media might ’ve been altogether off - issue .
Back in October , Americans were staring down the horror of Election Day and Senator Graham was filled withrighteous indignationover Twitter ’s decision to block a connexion to a dubiousNew York Post storythat appeared to be carry out the hope of ratfuckery that got President Trumpimpeached . Twitter eventually reversed the decision to block the report ’s URL and apologise , but the Senate Judiciary Committee stillvotedto hale its CEO , Jack Dorsey , and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in for another troll of questioning . That hearing began this sunup and it went about as well asother hearingson the general issue of societal media censorship — that is to say , it was off - topic from the second it lead off .
When Graham first entered amotionto subpoena Dorsey and Zuckerberg on Oct. 22 , he generate his topics of discourse as the censorship of the New York Post clause ; “ [ a]ny other contented moderateness policy , practices , or actions that may interfere with or tempt elections for Union federal agency ; ” and the use of fact - checking recording label on user post . At the sentence , Graham was all fired up over a potential Trump reelection and thesuccessful confirmationof Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court .
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled, “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election, on Facebook and Twitter’s content moderation practices.Photo: Hannah McKay (Getty Images)
Asthe hearingbegan earlier today , Graham seemed in a more conciliatory mode . There was no more lecture about election interference . or else , Graham open up with a longsighted oral communication about social media being habit-forming . “ Is that a good business praxis , ” Graham need . “ perchance so . Does it create a wellness hazard over time ? Something to attend at . ”
Graham then turned to the familiar GOP talk item that Twitter once leave upa postfrom Iran ’s Ayatollah Khomeini saying it ’s okay to oppugn the Holocaust while it flagged a post by Republican Nikki Haley . But for the most part , Graham seemed to accede the audition with a shrugging indifference . He acknowledge that without the liability protections ofSection 230of the Communications Decency Act , then these companies “ would have probably never been in existence . ” Rather than refer specific changes that he would like to see made to department 230 — a law that protects cyberspace platform from indebtedness for user - generated content — Graham lowered the ambitions of the proceedings saying that he hoped “ in this hearing today that we can chance a service line of agreement that division 230 postulate to be changed . ” He said that his advice would be “ to provide the industry itself to develop near concern practice ” and suggested that lawmaker start looking at these companies through the “ health optical prism ” as some practices may need to be modified because these products “ can become addictive . ”
So , what pass off to that whole idea of research the potential difference of societal metier content easing deliver an wrong influence on elections ? Well , it ’s possible that Graham is feeling a little shy about the subject after theWashington Postpublished an article in which Georgia ’s Republican Secretary of State , Brad Raffensperger , accused the senator of essay to pressure him to “ toss legally cast ballots ” in certain county in an attempt to get around the state ’s vote amount in favor of President Trump .
Raffensperger said his family has received death threat from the world as Trump and Graham have spread cabal theories about the Georgia election process , and the Post wrote that the Secretary reiterated “ every accusal of pseud will be thoroughly inquire , but that there is currently no credible evidence that fraud take place on a broad enough scale to impress the outcome of the election . ”
Graham has call Raffensperger ’s assertion that his call was anything but proper “ ridiculous ” and he said that his independent concern is , how to “ protect the integrity of mail - in voting , ” and to answer the question , “ how does signature verification workplace ? ” Amost every nation has both of these practices in one human body or another .
Raffensperger tell apart theWall Street Journalthat Graham suggested confuse out vote from counties that had “ eminent rates of touch errors ” but that — because doing such a thing would be illegal — the secretarial assistant ’s faculty agree to ignore the senator .
In the midriff of today ’s hearing , Graham had to step awayto votein what was announced as a 10 - mo recess . The break ran for closer to 30 minutes and the senator answered some questions from newsman . Asked about his call with the Georgia Secretary of State , Graham order , “ I talked to Arizona , I spill the beans to Nevada , ” as well . Confused , the secretary of state inArizonaandNevadaquickly issued statements saying that they had not had any contact lens with Graham . The senator elucidate that he spoke with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and say he “ ca n’t remember who [ he ] speak to in Nevada . But what I ’m trying to chance out is how do you verify mail - in balloting . ” The state procedures for verify mail - in ballots should be usable to any senator with an cyberspace connexion .
As for the senator ’s stated end of finding “ a baseline of accord that Section 230 needs to be changed ” at the earshot today , he come along to have succeeded before it even start . senator and looker alike take play throughout the session saying that they think the law should be changed while offering few specific proffer for accomplishing that . Still , Graham ’s deputation of exhibit malefic election encumbrance is likely on track .
HearingJack DorseyMark ZuckerbergSection 230
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