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foxnews.com Twitter CEO Dorsey pressed by Cruz on restricting Hunter Biden stories: 'Who the hell elected you?'
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, ripped into Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, accusing him and his social media platform of improperly censoring reporting from the New York Post that reflected poorly on Joe Biden, despite not acting consistently regarding stories about President Trump.
The Post's Twitter account was locked and links to their article about the contents of a laptop reported as having belonged to Hunter were censored. Twitter also initially blocked other users from sharing links to the Post report. Dorsey said this was due to a policy regarding hacked materials. Cruz noted that a New York Times article about President Trump's tax returns did not face the same treatment, even though the materials appeared to be leaked illegally.
"Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American people are allowed to hear, and why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC silencing views to the contrary of your political beliefs?"
Dorsey claimed that this was not the case. He also denied that Twitter has the ability to influence elections, a claim that Cruz derided as "absurd."
“You’re testifying to this committee right now that Twitter, when it silences people, when it censors people, when it blocks political speech, that has no impact on elections?”
“People have choice of other communication channels,” Dorsey claimed.
“Not if they don’t hear information,” Cruz shot back. “If you don’t think you have the power to influence elections, why do you block anything?”
Dorsey claimed that his policies are “making sure more that voices on the platform are possible,” which is done by silencing abuse and harassment. He did admit that the policy under which the Post story was censored was flawed, and that other users should not have been blocked from sharing links to it.
The exchange came during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on what is known as Section 230 protections that keep social media platforms from being liable for statements made through their services. Dorsey appeared alongside Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Lawmakers looking to strip those protections claim that by selectively censoring posts due to their content -- beyond typical terms of service prohibiting offensive or harassing statements -- the tech companies are taking an active approach akin to a publisher instead of merely providing a platform where individual users post whatever statements they want.
