The Senate Commerce Committee has asked the CEOs of Google, Facebook and Twitter to appear as witnesses on October 1
It's an unusually tight schedule for such a high- profile, but members have said they may issue penalties if the CEOs don't agree to appear by the end of the day on Thursday.
It is still possible that other committee members will oppose the subpoenas or that the CEOs will find some other way to avoid the subpoenas, while Google, Facebook and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The hearing will reportedly focus on measures to amend Section 230, a key law governing online. In July, a subcommittee hosted a hearing on the PACT — a seeming compromise between partisan and more measured reformers — though the results of the debate were unclear.
The Senate Commerce Committee, before subpoenaing the CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, launched multiple investigations into alleged anti-conservative bias at Facebook and questioned Mark Zuckerberg, directly after the Cambridge Analytica. The most recent hearings into alleged anticompetitive behavior by tech companies were handled by the Judiciary Committee, which presides over antitrust issues.
Potential changes to Section 230 have become a key issue for Congress as the US and more candidates are found to be hacking the systems. Also on Thursday, Senator Josh Hawley introduced a new bill that would impose sanctions on platforms found to be operating improperly.
“It is time to take a fresh look at the statute and clarify the vague ‘good faith’ standard for which tech companies receive legal protection,” said Senator Marco Rubio.
