If you watch closely you can almost see Google CEO Sundar Pichai's brain start to weep at the asinine questions from members of Congress on the House Judiciary Committee. Wired stated in an article that Congress missed a great opportunity to "question one of the most powerful people on the planet—Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, the company that filters all the world's information. And they blew it."
Instead of doing research on how Google actually works, members of Congress wasted time trotting out debunked claims about anti-conservative searches and why when you Google "idiot," a picture of President Donald Trump comes up.
As much as Pichai tried to explain that Google search has no political bias, the conservative politicians weren't buying it, with one of the more head shaking questions of the day coming from Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), asking why when someone Googles the repeal of ObamaCare, only negative results appeared.
Writer Matt Binder summed it all up in a Twitter thread.
god this google hearing is embarrassing— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1544543533.0
lmao in an incredible self-own, republican rep steve chabot complains to google's ceo that when you google searched… https://t.co/S1gnhD7rkH— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1544544338.0
smdh i expected a congressperson whose name is one letter away from being "chatbot" to be a little more tech savvy— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1544544542.0
lol louie gohmert is complaining at this google hearing that wikipedia removes his staff's edits— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1544552201.0
Others agreed the politicians needed a crash course in how Google works.
@MattBinder Party of personal responsibility, noticing their shit policies and politicians are unpopular, desperate… https://t.co/H4PyCHuKqh— Dan Cohen (@Dan Cohen) 1544545527.0
@MattBinder They want equal time like the panel shows on CNN. A free marketplace doesn’t work like that shitheads.— temporarilyembarassedteddibiasethemilliondollarman (@temporarilyembarassedteddibiasethemilliondollarman) 1544553611.0
@MattBinder @BJGT50 Could it be that the GOP bill actually sucked? Inquiring minds want to know— John L Reeves (@John L Reeves) 1544563727.0
@MattBinder Breaking: No results from Google search for positive articles about killing people by cutting their hea… https://t.co/JYoahzywkv— the UMW are mining company goons (@the UMW are mining company goons) 1544553172.0
This wrapped things up with a tidy bow of truth.
You can watch the entire hearing below.
Transparency & Accountability: Examining Google and its Data Collection, Use and Filtering Practiceswww.youtube.com
H/T: Business Insider, Mashable