Facebook and Twitter executives grilled on privacy and politics in hearings before US Congress

Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey tackle tough questions from legislators

Executives from Twitter and Facebook have been grilled by members of US Congress on everything from foreign propaganda campaigns to allegations of political bias on their platforms.

Just five months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questioning by Congress, the company’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, trekked to Capitol Hill for hearings of her own, alongside Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Like Mr Zuckerberg’s hearing before them, Wednesday’s hearings provided little closure, but did reveal the depths of the frustration many politicians feel towards the tech titans.

During the Senate sessions, several legislators said they planned to introduce legislation to rein in companies like Facebook and Twitter. Or, as Senator Mark Warner put it: “The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end.”

The executives, meanwhile, openly admitted to making mistakes in the 2016 election, when the Department of Justice says Russian actors staged a widespread foreign influence campaign that went largely undetected by both Twitter and Facebook. Ms Sandberg said Facebook had been "too slow to spot this and too slow to act," while Mr Dorsey said his work on the issue was "not done – nor will it ever be".

The only company that received more criticism than Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday was Google parent company Alphabet, which refused to send CEO Larry Page to the hearing. Senators like Kamala Harris couldn't resist taking pointed jabs at the "invisible witness" in the room.

In fact, the senators heaped praise on both Ms Sandberg and Mr Dorsey for simply showing up to the hearing. The also praised the executives for the work they'd done on combatting foreign influence so far, and made it clear that further reforms on the issue should be a collaboration between the companies and the government.

Even Mr Warner said both Facebook and Twitter had "come a long way" in recognising and reigning in bad actors.

The House hearing was slightly more contentious, with Republican representatives grilling Mr Dorsey over alleged anti-conservative bias on the site. The concerns stemmed from reports that Twitter was "shadow banning" prominent Republicans by limiting their visibility in search results – reports the company has denied.

Mr Dorsey, sporting a full beard and a nose ring, shot down claims that Twitter's algorithms were specifically written to suppress conservative voices. An analysis of tweets sent by all members of the House and Senate, he said, found no statistically significant difference between how often a Democrat's tweet was viewed compared to a Republican's.

He added: "When people follow you, you’ve earned that audience. And we have a responsibility to make sure they can see your tweets. We do not have a responsibility, nor you a right, to amplify your tweets to audiences that don’t follow you."

Both hearings were interrupted at times by far-right activists like Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, and Laura Loomer, a reporter popular among the alt-right. The protesters aimed to call attention to the alleged pro-liberal bias, but were ultimately removed from the hearings.

In a rare light moment, Representative Billy Long drowned out Ms Loomer's protest with a perfectly executed auctioneer's chant – a trick he learned from working in the trade for 30 years.