Ted Lieu on the social media hearing featuring Diamond and Silk: "This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/2LkkBq1HYM
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 26, 2018
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Thursday blasted the usefulness of a House committee hearing with conservative YouTube personalities known as “Diamond and Silk,” who raised allegations of political bias in technology.
“This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing. The only reason I’m still here is because I want to enter some facts into the record to at least try to salvage some of this hearing,” Lieu said to begin his allotted speaking time.
YouTubers Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — better known as Diamond and Silk — appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday for a hearing that was divided along party lines.
Lieu proceeded to argue that the government does not censor social media or news outlets, because doing so would be unconstitutional.
He added that private companies, such as Facebook, are not legally obligated to run or promote certain content.
“Why are we having a hearing about regulating content? It’s unconstitutional to begin with,” Lieu said.
{mosads}Lieu was not the only Democrat to complain about the purpose of the hearing.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the panel, complained that Republicans “have prioritized this spectacle over every other kind of conversation we should be having today and we should have been having for the past year.”
Hardaway and Richardson repeatedly claimed during the hearing that they had been censored by Facebook.
However, lawmakers and experts in the hearing said declining viewership numbers were likely the result of a Facebook algorithm change across the platform that deprioritized content that doesn’t come from a user’s friends and family.
The duo has also claimed Facebook flagged their content as “unsafe.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in testimony earlier this month that the “unsafe” label was issued in error.
The two claimed on Thursday that they had never been paid by the Trump campaign, despite Federal Election Commission filings showing they received $1,275 on Nov. 22, 2016, for “field consulting.”