TWITTER: TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 Serial No. 115–162 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce energycommerce.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 36–155 WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:44 May 22, 2019 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 115\HEARINGS\115-162 CHRIS COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE GREG WALDEN, Oregon Chairman JOE BARTON, Texas FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey Vice Chairman Ranking Member FRED UPTON, Michigan BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois ANNA G. ESHOO, California TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas GENE GREEN, Texas MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina GREGG HARPER, Mississippi DORIS O. MATSUI, California LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey KATHY CASTOR, Florida BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland PETE OLSON, Texas JERRY MCNERNEY, California DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia PETER WELCH, Vermont ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BEN RAY LUJA´ N, New Mexico H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia PAUL TONKO, New York GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York BILL JOHNSON, Ohio DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa BILLY LONG, Missouri KURT SCHRADER, Oregon LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III, Massachusetts BILL FLORES, Texas TONY CA´ RDENAS, California SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana RAUL RUIZ, California MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma SCOTT H. PETERS, California RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan CHRIS COLLINS, New York KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota TIM WALBERG, Michigan MIMI WALTERS, California RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania EARL L. ‘‘BUDDY’’ CARTER, Georgia JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:44 May 22, 2019 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 115\HEARINGS\115-162 CHRIS C O N T E N T S Page Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of Oregon, opening statement ................................................................................................ 2 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, opening statement .......................................................................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Hon. Anna G. Eshoo, a Representative in Congress from the State of Cali- fornia, prepared statement .................................................................................. 80 WITNESSES Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter, Inc. ............................................................................. 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Answers to submitted questions 1 ................................................................... 135 SUBMITTED MATERIAL Study entitled, ‘‘#toxictwitter: Violence and abuse against women online,’’ Amnesty International, 2018, submitted by Ms. DeGette 2 Statement made by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Twitter, submitted by Mr. Doyle ....................................................................................... 94 Statement made by Devin Nunes on Fox News, submitted by Mr. Doyle .......... 95 Statement made by President Trump on Twitter, submitted by Mr. Doyle ....... 96 Article entitled, ‘‘Twitter admits there were many more Russian trolls on its site during the 2016 presidential elections, Recode, January 19, 2018, submitted by Mr. Luja´n ....................................................................................... 97 Article entitled, ‘‘Twitter has suspended more than 1.2 million terrorism- related accounts since late 2015,’’ CNBC, April 5, 2018, submitted by Mr. Luja´n ..................................................................................................................... 101 Article entitled, ‘‘Facebook and Twitter remove hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian and Russian political meddling,’’ TechCrunch, August 21, 2018, submitted by Mr. Luja´n ....................................................................................... 105 Statement of technology associations, submitted by Mr. Walden ....................... 114 Article entitled, ‘‘Users looking for child pornography are gathering on Peri- scope, Twitter’s forgotten video service,’’ Gizmodo, December 15, 2017, sub- mitted by Mr. Walden .......................................................................................... 116 Article entitled, ‘‘Twitter’s comeback shows the path for traditional media companies,’’ Inc., June 25, 2018, submitted by Mr. Walden ............................. 119 Paper by Kate Klonick entitled, ‘‘The New Governors: The people, rules, and processes governing online speech,’’ Harvard Law Review, submitted by Mr. Walden 3 Article entitled, ‘‘Twitter CEO Dorsey gets backlash for eating at Chick- fil-A,’’ NBC, June 10, 2018, submitted by Mr. Walden ..................................... 124 Article entitled, ‘‘Periscope has a minor problem,’’ Slate, December 12, 2017, submitted by Mr. Walden .................................................................................... 126 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:44 May 22, 2019 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 115\HEARINGS\115-162 CHRIS IV Page Article entitled, ‘‘One of Twitter’s new anti-abuse measures is the oldest trick in the forum moderation book,’’ The Verge, February 16, 2017, sub- mitted by Mr. Walden .......................................................................................... 132 1 The responses to Mr. Dorsey’s questions for the record can be found at: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/20180905/108642/HHRG-115-IF00- Wstate-DorseyJ-20180905-SD005.pdf. 2 The information can be found at: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/ 20180905/108642/HHRG-115-IF00-20180905-SD015.pdf. 3 The information can be found at: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/ 20180905/108642/HHRG-115-IF00-20180905-SD011.pdf. VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:44 May 22, 2019 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 115\HEARINGS\115-162 CHRIS TWITTER: TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, WASHINGTON, DC. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:30 p.m., in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Greg Walden (chairman of the committee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Walden, Barton, Upton, Shim- kus, Burgess, Scalise, Latta, McMorris Rodgers, Harper, Lance, Guthrie, Olson, McKinley, Kinzinger, Griffith, Bilirakis, Johnson, Long, Bucshon, Flores, Brooks, Mullin, Hudson, Collins, Cramer, Walberg, Walters, Costello, Carter, Duncan, Pallone, Rush, Engel, Green, DeGette, Doyle, Schakowsky, Butterfield, Matsui, Castor, Sarbanes, McNerney, Welch, Luja´n, Tonko, Clarke, Loebsack, Schrader, Kennedy, Ca´rdenas, Ruiz, Peters, and Dingell. Staff present: Jon Adame, Policy Coordinator, Communications & Technology; Jennifer Barblan, Chief Counsel, Oversight & Inves- tigations; Mike Bloomquist, Deputy Staff Director; Karen Chris- tian, General Counsel; Robin Colwell, Chief Counsel, Communica- tions & Technology; Jordan Davis, Director of Policy and External Affairs; Melissa Froelich, Chief Counsel, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection; Adam Fromm, Director of Outreach and Coa- litions; Ali Fulling, Legislative Clerk, Oversight & Investigations, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection; Elena Hernandez, Press Secretary; Zach Hunter, Director of Communications; Paul Jackson, Professional Staff, Digital Commerce and Consumer Pro- tection; Peter Kielty, Deputy General Counsel; Bijan Koohmaraie, Counsel, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection; Tim Kurth, Senior Professional Staff, Communications & Technology; Milly Lo- thian, Press Assistant and Digital Coordinator; Mark Ratner, Pol- icy Coordinator; Austin Stonebraker, Press Assistant; Madeline Vey, Policy Coordinator, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protec- tion; Jessica Wilkerson, Professional Staff, Oversight & Investiga- tions; Greg Zerzan, Counsel, Digital Commerce and Consumer Pro- tection; Michelle Ash, Minority Chief Counsel, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection; Jeff Carroll, Minority Staff Director; Jennifer Epperson, Minority FCC Detailee; Evan Gilbert, Minority Press Assistant; Lisa Goldman, Minority Counsel; Tiffany Guarascio, Minority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Health Advi- sor; Carolyn Hann, Minority FTC Detailee; Alex Hoehn-Saric, Mi- nority Chief Counsel, Communications and Technology; Jerry Leverich, Minority Counsel; Jourdan Lewis, Minority Staff Assist- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:44 May 22, 2019 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\MY DOCS\HEARINGS 115\HEARINGS\115-162 CHRIS 2 ant; Dan Miller, Minority Policy Analyst; Caroline Paris-Behr, Mi- nority Policy Analyst; Kaitlyn Peel, Minority Digital Director; An- drew Souvall, Minority Director of Communications, Outreach and Member Services; and C.J. Young, Minority Press Secretary. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GREG WALDEN, A REPRESENT- ATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE