US: Google’s meetings last week lead to House testimony

Google CEO Sundar Pichai met on Friday, September 28, with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said, and the pair “discussed a range of issues impacting internet platforms and the economy in general.”

Pichai also met with senior Republican lawmakers on Friday to discuss their concerns, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

After the meetings, it was announced that Pichai has agreed to testify before the US House Judiciary Committee later this year over Republican concerns that the company is biased against conservatives and that he will also attend a meeting with President Donald Trump.

McCarthy told reporters after the meeting that the meeting was “very productive” and “frank.”

“I think we’ve really shown that there is bias, which is human nature, but you have to have transparency and fairness,” McCarthy said. “As big tech’s business grows, we have not had enough transparency and that has led to an erosion of trust and, perhaps worse, harm to consumers.”

Republicans want to question Google about whether its search algorithms are influenced by human bias. They also want to probe it on issues such as privacy, classification of news and opinion and dealing with countries with human rights violations.

Google has repeatedly denied accusations of bias against conservatives. Pichai left the meeting without comment.

Full Content: Bloomberg