US lawmakers grill Twitter CEO, Facebook's Sandberg
Washington, Sep 5 : Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on Wednesday appeared before the US Congress, admitting to the lawmakers that they were "too slow to act" and "ill-prepared" to tackle foreign interference on their platforms.
According to The Washington Post, Sandberg told the US Senate Intelligence Committee that they were too slow to spot this and too slow to act. That's on us."
"This interference was completely unacceptable. It violated the values of our company and of the country we love," she was quoted as saying.
This was the second time a top Facebook executive was grilled by the US lawmakers this year. In April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the lawmakers over the massive Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
Dorsey said Twitter found itself "unprepared and ill-equipped for the immensity of the problems".
"Abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots and human coordination, disinformation campaigns and divisive filter bubbles -- that's not a healthy public square," the Twitter CEO was quoted as saying.
"Required changes won't be fast or easy," he added.
Dorsey was later set to appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in a hearing on online censorship of conservative opinions and misinformation activities ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections.
In a prepared written testimony posted on Tuesday by the House Committee, Dorsey said Twitter will remain an "impartial" "global town square", and it does "not shadowban anyone based on political ideology".
"To serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform," he said.
The Twitter CEO's testimony came a few days after US President Donald Trump accused US tech companies of trying to "silence" conservative voices.
Twitter has constantly denied the claims by Republicans that conservative accounts were shadow-banned or their opinions were censored on the platform.
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Karnataka bypolls: Over 60 per cent voter turnout in Bagalkot, Davanagere South till 5 pm
Bengaluru (PTI): Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm in both Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, where bypolls were held on Thursday.
While the turnout in Bagalkot was 65.68 per cent, it was 63.04 per cent in Davanagere South.
While the ruling Congress faces the challenge of retaining both seats, the BJP aims to wrest them and deliver a setback to its rival, which is currently witnessing an "internal power struggle" over leadership.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the demise of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South).
A total of over 2.59 lakh eligible voters are expected to cast their votes at around 319 polling stations in Bagalkot, where nine candidates are in the fray.
In Davanagere South, over 2.31 lakh eligible voters are expected to vote across 284 polling stations, with 25 candidates contesting.
The BJP has fielded former MLA and 2023 defeated candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot, and a fresh face, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, from Davanagere South.
The Congress has given tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. Bagalkot candidate Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, while Samarth Mallikarjun from Davanagere South is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
