Section 230 hearings: Twitter, Facebook and Google CEOs testify before Congress – as it happened

In rare appearance days before election, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai defend law as critical to free speech

6.29pm GMT

The hearing on Wednesday wrapped up a little before 11am, with very little concrete questioning around section 230 having transpired over the previous four hours.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai all were targeted with questioning. Dorsey perhaps got the brunt of Republicans' anger over the recent censorship of a New York Post article critical of Biden.

Here's a list of almost 200 social media sites beside the 3 you're hearing from at today's #Section230 hearing. The CEOs, employees & users of these platforms have an important stake in the outcome of this debate. Too bad we won't hear about them today. https://t.co/jrxRy1dyfM pic.twitter.com/vvvlk5OhiG

5.56pm GMT

Senators use a congressional hearing to air personal grievances about social media

Sorry, but this is one of my favorite categories of political activity so I have decided to catalogue a few of the best examples we got today of politicians asking about tweets that personally upset them.

Sen Ron Johnson is my neighbor and strangled our dog, Buttons, right in front of my 4 yr old son and 3 yr old daughter. The police refuse to investigate.This is a complete lie but important to retweet and note that there are more of my lies to come.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn demands to know whether Google has fired a specific engineer, Blake Lemoine, who criticized her in the past

So now @SenCoryGardner is also asking @jack about specific tweets and moderation. These Senators look incredibly foolish. They do not understand how content moderation works.

And now @SenatorBaldwin is asking about specific tweets as well. Both sides are demanding explanations of specific moderation decisions. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE ANY SAY IN. It's a 1st Amendment violation itself to be pressuring companies in either direction.

"WHY IS THIS MEAN TWEET NOT A VIOLATION OF YOUR POLICIES" Senators on both sides of the aisle yell at @jack while Facebook quietly cuts a deal on #Section230 "reform" that will screw over Internet users and solidify Big Tech monopolies.