Google CEO testimony to Congress - LIVE: Sundar Pichai asked why Trump appears when you search 'idiot' amid grilling about data collection

Sundar Pichai says Google has 'no plans' to launch censored search engine in China

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies to Congress over privacy and data collection

Weeks before Democrats take over control of the House of Representatives, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are questioning Google CEO Sundar Pichai on issues including transparency, data collection, and filtering.

This is the latest of several hearings Republicans have set up with tech company executives, which they claim have shown liberal bias in their dealings.

Google refused to send a representative the last time the Judiciary interviewed the top brass of social media companies, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. But, since then, the Mr Pichai has held closed door meetings with members of Congress to discuss what Republicans have branded as liberal bias at Google.

Follow updates from the hearing below and watch a live stream of the testimony here.

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[11 December 2018 15:45 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Pichai has been asked about advertising rates on Google, and whether Google gives the lowest rate for advertisements for political candidates possible — as is required by law for television and radio.

Mr Pichai has said that the rates are impacted by a variety of factors, including the time of day an ad is purchased, and other concerns. He said that Google approaches its civic responsibilities in a non-partisan way.

[11 December 2018 15:47 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Nadler has asked about bugs that Google finds in its systems that leaves user data exposed, and whether Google is legally required to notify users when their data is compromised.

"It depends on the situation. We follow the requirements," Mr Pichai said.

"We go above and beyond to ensure we do the right things for our users," he continued.

[11 December 2018 15:49 · Clark Mindock]

Here's what Mr Pichai said when asked what has been done to ensure that Google is a safe place for American elections:

"We have undertaken a significant review of how ads are bought, we look for the origins of these accounts", he said.

"We share a lot with law enforcement.. we are effectively investing in a lot of oversight in this area," Mr Pichai said.

[11 December 2018 15:51 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Pichai has said that YouTube has clear rules on hate speech, and that the company will take down videos when white supremacist videos are posted.

[11 December 2018 15:59 · Clark Mindock]

Representative Zoe Lofgren is now asking about Android phone data collection, and asked what information would be collected if she had no apps installed on her phone.

Mr Pichai said that some location data could be collected depending on how she were to use her phone.

[11 December 2018 16:00 · Clark Mindock]

Ms Lofgren just said that she Googled the word "idiot" during the hearing and that a picture of President Donald Trump was pulled up.

"I just did that," Ms Lofgren said, before asking how search algorithms work.

[11 December 2018 16:02 · Clark Mindock]

Ms Lofgren is defending Google and its employees, which are generally thought to have liberal politics.

"It's pretty obvious that bias against conservative voices is not" one of the major problems, she said.

[11 December 2018 16:06 · Clark Mindock]

Representative Steve Chabot said that he has done a weekly blog for nine years, and said that he once Googled his healthcare repeal bill from earlier in this Congress. He said that the results were virtually all against the Republican health care repeal bill.

He did the same with the tax bill passed by Republicans, which was attacked for giving an overwhelming tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.

"Congressman I understand the frustration at seeing negative news ... What is important here is we use a robust methodology to reflect what is being said about any given topic at any given time," Mr Pichar responded.

"We do it without regards to political ideology," he said.

[11 December 2018 16:10 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Pichar has been asked repeatedly from representatives on both side of the aisle if Google promotes any political bias. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee is the latest.

"We approach our work without any political bias. We build it in a neutral way," Mr Pichar said when asked if they do.

[11 December 2018 16:12 · Clark Mindock]

Ms Jackson Lee is now expressing concern that Google may have plans to open up operations in China with a censored search engine there.

Mr Pichai said that Google does not have any plans to expand into China.

"Right now we have no plans to launch in China. We don't have a search product there. Our core mission is to provide users access to information, and getting access to information is a universal human right," Mr Pichai said.