Are Facebook, Twitter, and Google American Companies?
This week’s Senate hearing highlights a deep tension in the tech giants’ self-definitions.
On Tuesday’s technology-executive hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a key tension at the heart of the internet emerged: Do American tech companies, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google, operate as American companies? Or are they in some other global realm, maybe in some place called cyberspace?
In response to a tough line of questions from Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Twitter’s acting general counsel, Sean Edgett, gave two conflicting answers within a couple of minutes. Cotton pressed Edgett on Twitter’s decision to , which is provided through the subsidiary Dataminr, while the company reportedly still allowed the Russian media outlet RT to continue using the service
