Twitter CEO to defend company before Congress against bias claims

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc Chief Executive Jack Dorsey will tell Congress on Wednesday the company “does not use political ideology to make any decisions,” according to written testimony made public on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square, speaks at the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Dorsey will appear before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee after Republicans raised concerns about how the social media platform polices content.

“From a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform,” Dorsey said.

He added that a recent company review showed “no statistically significant difference” between how often tweets by Republican and Democratic members of Congress are viewed by Twitter users.

Conservative Republicans in Congress have, however, criticized social media companies for what they say are politically motivated practices in removing some content, a charge the companies have repeatedly rejected.

President Donald Trump used Twitter on July 26 to fault the website, without evidence, for using so-called shadow banning, or limiting the visibility of, prominent Republicans.

Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat, blasted the hearing and Republicans, saying “there is no evidence that the algorithms of social networks or search results are biased against conservatives. It is a made-up narrative pushed by the conservative propaganda machine to convince voters of a conspiracy that does not exist.”

Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

(Original source)