Twitter, Facebook and Google CEOs testify before Senate Commerce Committee

Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley joined The Final Round to recap the big tech hearing and what it means for future regulations on these big tech companies.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Let's get to another big story that we've been watching here at Yahoo Finance today. And that, of course, is the-- going off, I guess, some of that broader pressure that we saw in the market today. Some of those Big Tech stocks were amongst the worst performers in the market today. And this, of course, comes as the CEOs of Facebook, the CEO of Twitter, and the CEO of Google testifying before Congress earlier today.

Those three executives really facing questions about how they moderate content on their platforms. Dan Howley is here with more on this for us. And Dan, I guess my question to you is, did we hear anything today, or did we make any progress, maybe that's a better way to say it, on addressing some of those concerns that a lot of these congressmen have on hate speech, on censorship, or on Section 230 protections?

DAN HOWLEY: No. Basically today was exactly what you probably had expected to be a sideshow for conservative lawmakers to basically say, there's some widespread conspiracy among these three tech giants to silence conservative voices, despite a complete lack of evidence showing anything as such. There were some discussions about Section 230 in general, how it relates to misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, things along those lines.

They did-- the companies say that they were open to forms of regulation that would help them decide how and when to take content down or to remove content. But there wasn't really anything too substantive. The Democratic lawmakers said that they objected to the hearing in its totality because it was being held before an election, several days before an election.

And it was a topic that would have helped Republicans in their election efforts. And so it really came down to essentially accusations flying back and forth. And the three CEOs attempting to answer, Jack Dorsey was the one that seemed to get the worst of it, surprisingly, it's usually Mark Zuckerberg that gets it, but Jack Dorsey, in his very long beard, had gotten a lot of heat there because of the decision by Twitter to block a "New York Post" article recently that alleged to connect Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, with Joe Biden and business dealings in Ukraine.

But that article has also been largely scrutinized by other media outlets because of the providence of those emails being called into question. So it really seemed to be kind of an out free-for-all at points, and at other points, just a way for different members of Congress, senators, to kind of get their five minutes of fame, basically.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, Dan, this hearing aside, there has been some more scary sounding rhetoric on Section 230 from the perspective of the tech companies. I mean, you've got the Trump Justice Department now saying that it favors changing those-- that law to basically tighten up on what the tech platforms are allowed to publish. Do you see any chance of anything possibly changing with regard to Section 238? Or is this just a lot of smoke and no fire?

DAN HOWLEY: I think there will eventually be some form of change to 230. What it means for the internet, though, you know, that's a big question, right? The existence of 230 allowed for the modern internet to exist, in essence, at all. It's the foundational bedrock of the modern internet, allowing people to post online to these platforms.

And for those platforms to then regulate, to a degree, in good faith, those posting. So for instance, they're able to take down hate speech or harassment without facing any kind of liability issues. And, you know, if there is a change, it could wholesale change how the internet exists. We may not have, without 230, the kinds of sites that exist now, including Google and Facebook and Twitter, regardless of whether or not you believe that there is some kind of bias on one side or the other.

Democrats, if President-- if Joe Biden is elected, would want to see a move against 230. Joe Biden has said, in particular, he wants to see that change. President Trump has taken steps to make changes, ordering the FCC and FTC to look at it. So there are moves now to see some kind of change.

This, though, just seemed to be some kind of circus event ahead of the election for lawmakers to just kind of, like I said, get their time in the sun and kind of get their little pet peeves out in front of these high-name executives. And don't forget, we're going to see the Judiciary Committee talk to some of these folks as well.

So it's not as though this was like a one-time event, two of these same people were just before the House about a month ago, or maybe a month ago, I can't even remember. They're there so often now that it seems to be just an issue that we're going to keep going back to for some time. But, you know, if there is some kind of change to Section 230, it will be kind of a seismic shift in the internet itself.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, and Dan, certainly, this has not been a one-time event. It's not the first time any of these executives have been on Capitol Hill. And I think it's safe to say it probably isn't the last time that they will be making an appearance.