Given what is going on in the world. esentative czajkowski owski we have seen life for americans transformed in many positive ways. The internet provides new opportunities for commerce, education, information and connecting people. However, along with these many new opportunities, we have seen new challenges as well. Stocking thee online marketplace using deceptive techniques to influence the consumers with deceptive designs to fool them into giving away present information, stealing their otherand engineering unfair practices. The federal trade Commission Works to protect americans from many unfair and deceptive practices. A lack of resources, authority and even a lack of will has left Many American simmers feeling helpless in this digital world. Adding to that feeling of helplessness, new technologies are increasing the scope and scale of the problem. Manipulation of video and otherterns technologies are hurting us indirect and indirect ways. Congress has unfortunately taking a laissezfaire approach to regulation and unfair and deceptive practices online over the past decade. Platforms have let them flourish. Failed to is big tech respond to the grave threat deepfakes as evidenced by facebook scrambling to announce a new policy that strikes me as totally inadequate. We will talk about that later. It would have done nothing to the video of speaker millions ofamassed views and prompted no action by the Online Platform. Hopefully, how discussion today can change my mind about that. This isng all of section 230 of the Communications Decency act. That provides Online Platform links like facebook a legal liability shield for thirdparty content. Many have argued that this liability shield results in Online Platforms not adequately policing their platforms. Including online piracy and extreme content. Tech here we are with big wholly unprepared to tackle the challenges we face today. Concern for this to protectust be consumers regardless of whether they are online or not. For too long, big tech has argued that ecommerce and digital platforms deserve special treatment and a light regulatory touch. We are finding out that assumers can be harmed easily online as in the physical world. Onesme cases, the online arent are more dangerous. It is incumbent on the subcommittee to make clear that protecting the protections that apply to in person commerce also applies to virtual space. I think that i think the witnesses for their testimony today. I recognize Ranking Member rogers for five minutes. Thank you to everyone, welcome, i appreciate the cheerleading this effort to highlight online deception. I want to note that chairman walden also held several hearings on platform responsibility. This information is not a new problem. It was also an issue 130 years ago. When Joseph Pulitzer and the new york world and William Randolph led the age of yellow journalism. Big, onlineick platforms today, sensational headline sold newspapers and boosted advertising revenue. With far more limited sources of , themation available American People lost trust in the media. To rebuild trust, newspapers had to clean up their act. Now the pulitzer is associated with something very different. I believe we are at a similar Inflection Point today. Faith in sources we can trust online. To rebuild it, the subcommittee, members of the media are putting a spotlight on abuses and deception. Leadership has already led to efforts by platforms to take action. Just this week, facebook announced a new policy to combat deepfakes. In part by utilizing online intelligence. Ckert forate miss bi being here to discuss this in detail. Deepfakes can be and on with innovation. And preparing people with more information. They can choose to make far more Productive Outcomes when people can make the best decisions for themselves. Rather than relying on the government to make decisions for them. There isnt more regulation and government mandate. As we discuss ways to combat manipulation online, we must ensure that america will remain the Global Leader in ai development. There is no better place in the world to raise peoples of living and make sure that this technology is used responsibly. Software is already available to face swap, lipsynch and create reenactment to fabricate content. Is, we caning as it also be using ai to go after the bad actors and fight fire with fire. We cannot afford to shy away from it. Who would you rather lead the world in Machine Learning technology . America or china . China is sharing its Ai Surveillance Technology with other authoritarian governments like venezuela. Is using tell knology technology to control minorities. The New York Times has reported just last month that china is collecting dna samples and can be using this data to create images of faces. Could china be building a tool to further crackdown on minorities and political dismiss customer imagine the propaganda and lies that could develop with this Technology Behind the great chinese firewall. Where there is no free speech or an independent press to hold the communist party accountable. That is why america must lead the world in ai development. By upholding our american values, we can use this as a force for good and save peoples lives. Can help us detect cancer earlier and were quickly. Clinical trials are already underway, making major breakthroughs to diagnose cancer. The continued leadership of our innovators is crucial to make sure that we have the tools to combat online deception. America should be right in the role for this technology so real people, not an authoritarian state like china are empowered. I am also glad we are putting a spotlight on dark patterns. Laws, that reviews and bots are the latest version of robo calls scams. Reviews and bots are the latest version of robo call scams. We must be careful where we legislate so that we dont harm the practices that people enjoy. I heavyhanded regulation will make it impossible for online retailers to provide discount. This would especially hurt lower and middle income families. In a digital marketplace, Services People enjoy should not get swallowed up by a strict definition of a dark pattern. How we make these distinctions is important. I look forward to todays discussion and i want to thank the panel. I yield back. The gentlelady yields back. Recognizes the next speaker. Relyericans increasingly on internet for fundamental aspects of their daily lives. Consumers shop online for products ranging from groceries to refrigerators. They use the internet to telecommute or check the weather and traffic and they use social Media Networks to connect with family and friends as a major source of news and information. When consumers go online, they assume the reviews of the products they buy or real our bill and that the news and information they are reading is accurate. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Online actors including nationstates, companies and individuals fraudsters are using on my toes manipulate and deceive americans. Some methods of deception are well known. Today, technology has made it difficult if not impossible for typical consumers to recognize what is real from what is fake. Why are people putting so Much Technology misuse of the trust is know key to taking advantage of people. If that actors can make people believe a lie, they can manipulate us into taking actions we would not otherwise take. In some instances, we can no longer even trust our eyes. Videos can make people appear intact not can be slowed to make people appear intoxicated. The extent of such manipulation has become extreme. Machine learning other rhythms create completely fake videos known as deepfakes that look real. They can show real people say or do things doing things that they never did. Faye swapping technology has been used to place nicholas cage into movies were he never was. Jordan peele created a deepfake supposedly showing president obama insulting President Trump. The most common use of deepfakes is nonconsensual privacy. That has been used to make it appear as if celebrities have been videotaped in compromising positions. It was also used to humiliate journalists from india who was reporting on an eightyearold rate victim. Algorithms are behind the glut of social media bots, or Automated Systems who act as if they are real people. These buyers are used by companies and other entities to build popularity of brands. Even more alarming is the use of these bots by both state and nonstate actors to spread this this information. It can influence the fabric of our society and politics. In english and can be very subtle. Darktive design known as patterns capitalize on our knowledge of senses. Have you ever tried to unsubscribe from a mailing list and there is a button that says subscribe that is eager and more colorful than the unsubscribe button . That is by design. Banners have been designed with dirt or here on the screen to tapping them on your smartphone. It is impossible for experts to detect. Computer scientists are working on technology. We are in a technological arms race. As the technology improves, so does the deceptive technology. Unrelenting advances in these technologies and their abuse rates raise 70 questions for all of us. Significante questions for all of us. What steps are companies and regulators taking to mitigate Consumer Fraud and misinformation . I looked over to beginning to answer these questions with our Expert Witness so we can transparency to fight misinformation and deceptive practices. Madam chair, i think this is a very important hearing. I was just telling my colleague hadt a discussion that we with the topic was brought up. I said we are having a hearing on this today. This is something a lot of members hear about. A keeper having the hearing today. Thank you for having the hearing today. The chair recognizes mr. Walden. The making member of the committee for five minutes for his opening statement. Thank you for having this meeting. This is the second hearing of the new year. There was one that started earlier upstairs. We are glad to hear from our witnesses today. Thank you for being here. Internetnything, the presents that actors seeking ample opportunities to manipulate users and take advantage of consumers. They tend to be some of the most horrible in the population. Harmful acts are easily exacerbated. Videosll know, fake spread at breakneck speed. That is why we try to tackle this whole issue with platform responsibility had on. We appreciate the input that we got from many. We legislated on Online Platforms not for filling the Good Samaritan fulfilling their Good Samaritan obligations. We took at how our rhythms info influence consumer behavior. Improving broadband expenses overall areas can benefit from the positive aspects of the internet. Explaining the Online Advertising ecosystem crossborder data flows. A topic we need to continue to work on. Other related issues we face such as cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence to name a few. Of the invited the heads Tech Industry to explain their practices right in this hearing from. Two of the committees highest profile hearings in recent memory. Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg came and spent about 5. 5 hours at that table to enter some pretest questions on the cameras analytical debacle and to provide the committee with more insight on how facebook collects Consumer Information and what facebook does with that information. We welcome the ceo of twitter, jack dorsey to provide more information on how twitter operates. Chairman elan brought in the ceo of reddit. A trend that we hope will continue. This hearing today helps with that. This group of experts signs a light on practices i hope that can following our series of years, there is proof that some companies are cleaning up their platforms. We appreciate the work you are doing. Following our hearing on Cambridge Analytic up, Basement Book made significant changes to its privacy policies. Is the ability for it users to control and delete information, tim gunn washes entities and invested in programs to promote local news operations. Mr. Zuckerberg was pushed pretty hard on some ads that he saw. Facebook removed those ads. We got a call as mr. Zuckerberg was headed to the airport that afternoon. Also notable through the Global Internet for him to counterterrorism, platforms such as twitter, facebook and youtube have been working together to tackle terrorist content and disrupt them. We thank you for that. This is not to suggest the online ecosystem is perfect. It is far from it. Companys could do more to conduct their platform. I think you are all working on that. That may be clear. This hearing should serve as an important reminder to all Online Platforms that we are watching closely. We want to make sure that we do not harm innovation but when we see issues or identify clear homes to consumers, we do not see online entities taking a puppet action, we are prepared to act. Thank you for having this hearing. This is tough stuff. Taking appropriate action, we are prepared to act. They keeper having this hearing. We need to call on them to call take on things we dont like and stay on the right side of the First Amendment. It is still protected under the First Amendment. If you go too far, we yell at you for taking things done that we like. If you dont take down things we dont like, we yell at you for that. Youre in a bit of a box. Is an issue we0 have to revise. We all get the opportunity to revise and extend our remarks throughout this process and clean up our bad grammar. Isbe some of that we have that reporting. We will leave that for another day. Ideal back. The gentleman yields back. I yield back. The gentleman yield back. All Opening Statements shall be made part of the record. Introducew like to our witnesses for todays hearing. Ms. Monika bickert the Vice President of Global Policy management at facebook. I want to acknowledge and thank you. Are not feeling well today and would like to abbreviate some of your testimony. We thank you very much for coming anyway. I want to introduce dr. Join donovan. Of technologytor and social change project. Also, mr. Justin hurwitz. Anddirector of Governance Technology center at the university of Nebraska College of law. And director of law and economics programs at the International Center for law and economics. Finally, dr. Tristan harris. He is the director for humane technology. We want to think our witnesses for joining us today. We look forward to testimony at this time. The chair will recognize each witness for five minutes to provide their Opening Statements. I would like to explain the lighting system for those who may not know it. In front of you is a series of lights. The lights will initially be green at the start of your opening statement. The light will turn to you when you have one minute remaining. Begin tould please wrap up your testimony at that point, the light will turn red when your time has expired. Bickert, you are recognized for five minutes. Bickert thank you members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. Y name is Monika Bickert i am the Vice President for Global Policy management at facebook and i am responsible for our content policies. I am a little under the weather today. With apologies, i will keep my remarks short but will rely on the written testimony i cemented submitted. We have an important to play at facebook and addressing manipulation and misinformation on our platform. We have our Community Standards that specify what we will remove from the site and our relationship with thirdparty Fact Checkers through which Fact Checking organization can rate content as false. We put a label over that content saying this is false information and distribution. Under the committee standards, there is some types of this information that we move remove. Attempts to suppress the vote or interfere with the census. Newnnounced yesterday a prong and our policy where we will remove videos that are edited or synthesized using Artificial Intelligence or deep learning techniques in ways that are not apparent to the average person that would mislead the average person to believe that the video said something he or she did not in fact say. Manipulated media that does not follow fall under this is still subject to our Fact Checking. Although deepfakes are an emerging technology, one area where internet experts have seen and is in nudity pornography. All that violates our policies against nudity and pornography. We would remove it. Manipulated videos are eligible to be fact checked by these thirdparty Fact Checking organizations that we work with to label and reduce distributional of misinformation. We are always improving our policies and our e