House Minority Leader to Host Zuckerberg Meeting Friday; Panel Eyes Section 230 Hearing
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will host a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Friday, House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us Thursday. Zuckerberg had dinner Wednesday with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and other senators, and Thursday meetings with Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., among other visits. Walden told us he plans to attend the meeting with McCarthy and others, saying he favors Congress taking a hard look at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Tech platforms are in a difficult position being told not to act as editors and publishers and to moderate content, Walden said.
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The House Commerce Committee plans a hearing on Section 230 “sooner, rather than later,” Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told us. Asked if there's potential for a November hearing, Pallone said there's no date. An aide said a joint hearing with multiple subcommittees “isn’t out of the question.”
Zuckerberg declined to answer questions from reporters at the Capitol while walking with an entourage between meetings in the offices of Lee and Hawley. “Sorry, I’m not taking any questions,” Zuckerberg said multiple times.
Hawley has “been very vocal in my concerns about Facebook and so I’ll raise those and look forward to a frank conversation,” Hawley told us before the sit-down. The CEO "asked for the meeting, so maybe he has good news,” the legislator added.
Zuckerberg met with Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Wednesday, said an aide. Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., was a key member missing from Zuckerberg’s itinerary. “We were hoping he would come and testify yesterday,” Wicker told us. “He sent his surrogate, but he’s not on my schedule.” Asked if either office contacted the other, Wicker said, “He’s not on my schedule.”
Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., tried to arrange times with Zuckerberg, but schedules didn’t align. Schatz told reporters he met with the CEO in Honolulu in August: “I told him that I thought internet companies were generally being too clever by half as it related to the privacy legislation. That they just need to get totally behind it, as opposed to acting as though they have leverage in this situation.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters he met with Zuckerberg three or four weeks ago. They discussed ways for dealing with privacy, content moderation and protecting platforms from foreign manipulation, Graham said.
“I think he understands that self-regulation isn’t going to get it,” Warner told reporters. “That the days of the Wild West, in terms of not just Facebook but all these enterprises, can’t continue. Particularly as we see more countries and states put in place not just privacy, certain countries content rules, transparency rules.” Wednesday’s dinner wasn’t an attempt to “negotiate specific positions,” he said.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said they had no plans to meet with the Facebook chief. “I don’t think he’s going to meet with me and be talked out of Libra,” Brown said of the company’s digital currency project. “He should address concerns with the damage that company’s done.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., planned to meet with Zuckerberg while he’s in town, said an aide.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-S.C., meantime told reporters she met with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Nashville last week. The focus, she said, was the company's moving logistics operations to the city.