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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Two Delhi men held for BMTC bus phone thefts in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Whitefield police have arrested two men from Delhi for allegedly stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses and solved 14 theft cases, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Jai Chand (25), who worked at a hotel in Delhi, and Tarun (34), an autorickshaw driver in Delhi.
Officials said on January 24, a Mahadevapura resident lodged a complaint that his iPhone 15 Plus was stolen while he was travelling on a BMTC bus towards Whitefield.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case and arrested two suspects within an hour near a lodge on Hosa Road. During the arrest, the police found a bag containing several stolen mobile phones.
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“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in BMTC buses. They had also committed thefts during a concert held under the Channarayapatna police station limits on January 23,” the police said.
Investigations revealed that the accused had travelled from Delhi for the concert and stolen mobile phones from the audience. A third suspect is at large and is likely hiding in the Shahdara area of Delhi.
One of the victims, a YouTuber, raised the theft issue in February in a post on X.
“Here is my (FIR No 0013/2026 is registered in Channarayapatana PS. Your GSC No. is PO1814260100013) request @DelhiPolice @BlrCityPolice to plz look into this & get my device back since it's my work phone & I am a youtuber, all my data is there! someone plz help. @dcpwhitefield,” Anirban Sarkar posted on X on February 6.
Police have recovered 14 mobile phones of various brands, collectively valued at about Rs 9 lakh, from the accused. The two were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
In total, one case from Whitefield and 13 from Channarayapatna police stations were detected. Further investigation is underway.
