Sessions to meet state AGs on whether social media firms are 'intentionally stifling' free speech
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions/Mark Reinstein (Shutterstock.com.)
Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday that he will discuss social media companies and concerns about anticompetitive behavior this month with state attorneys general, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The U.S. attorney general is also concerned about platforms “intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas,” the agency said in a statement, according to the Washington Post.
The announcement came shortly after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey testified Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, and were asked about fake online videos, privacy protections and hacking, the Post reports a separate article.
Last year, Sandberg and Dorsey were questioned by the committee about Russia using fake social media accounts in connection with the 2016 election, according to the article. At Wednesday’s hearing, both testified that their sites are better equipped to fight foreign interference.
President Donald Trump tweeted on Aug. 28 that searches for “Trump News” were “RIGGED,” so that stories about him pulled up in searches were “BAD.” Later that day, Larry Kudlow, the president’s economic advisor, said the White House was considering whether Google should be regulated, the Post reported.
Google denied the allegations, and Trump said that next day that he wouldn’t want to regulate the website, according to the Journal.
