When Google CEO Sundar Pichai took a seat in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning, he became the latest Silicon Valley tech executive summoned for hostile questioning from politicians.
Lawmakers are expected to ask him about Google’s plans to return to China with a censored version of its search engine, whether political bias taints its products and its impact on competition. Similarly, leaders from Facebook and Twitter were peppered with questions about their role in spreading disinformation when they appeared before Congress earlier this year. While passions are strong around many of these issues, it isn’t clear yet if lawmakers can find enough common ground to channel their rhetoric into legislation.