Attorney General Jeff Sessions plans to meet later this month with state attorneys general to talk about a "growing concern" that social media giants "may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms."
The Justice Department issued a statement announcing plans for the meeting just after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday on the foreign influence found on platforms, including that of Russia and Iran.
But the topic of Sessions' meeting appeared to be in line with complaints from President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans that Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been stifling conservative voices. Trump has also suggested that social media giants could be in violation of antitrust laws.
Compared to the complaints over platform political bias in recent weeks, the Senate hearing was relatively free of grievances from lawmakers that conservative voices were being blocked. In his closing remarks, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the committee, even acknowledged the challenge of imposing any kind of regulation on platforms without violating the First Amendment.
Dorsey alone is set to face the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday afternoon, and is expected to face a host of questions from lawmakers who claim that Twitter's practices have been biased against conservative voices.
Michael Beckerman, the president and CEO of The Internet Association, said in a statement to Variety last week that "it's clear to me and to most people that there is not political bias in search and there is not political bias on social media."
"Conservative voices are now more prominent than ever because of social media. Online platforms offer the most open and accessible form of communication for all Americans. The platforms themselves don't have a political ideology, and it is counter to business interests of the companies to stifle the speech of half their customers."