He testifying on ways to counter the problem. Good morning, everyone. The subcommittee on Consumer Protection and commerce will now come to order. Member will begin with member statements and i will begin by recognizing myself for five minutes. Good morning, and thank you for joining us here today. Given what is going on in the world, its really impressive to see the turnout that is here today, and i welcome everyone. In the the two plus decade since the creation of the internet we have seen life for americans and families transformed in many positive ways. The internet provides new opportunities for commerce, education, information, and connecting people. However, a along with these many new opportunities we have seen new challenges as well. Bad actors are stalking the online marketplace, using deceptive techniques to influence consumers, deceptive designs to fool them are you okay . Dedeputy tee signs to fool them into giving away personal information, stealing their money, and engineering in other unfair practices the federal trade Commission Works to protect americans from many unfair and deceptive practices, but a lack of resources, authorities, and even a lack of will, has left Many American consumers feeling happenless in this Digital World. Adding to that feeling of helplessness new technologies are increasing the scope and scale of the problem. Deep fakes, manipulation of video, dark patterns, bots, and other technological technologies are hurting us in direct and indirect ways. Congress has unfortunately taken a laissezfaire approach to regulation of unfair and deceptive practices online over the past decade. And craft forms platforms have let them flourish. The result is big tech failed to respond to the grave threats posed by deep fakes and evidence as evidenced by facebook scrambling to announce a new policy that strikes me as wholly inadequate. Well talk about that later. Since it would have done nothing to prevent the video of Speaker Pelosi that amassed millions of views and prompted no action by the Online Platform. Hopefully our discussion today can change my mind about that. Underlying all of this is section 230 of the Communications Decency act which provides Online Platform links like facebook a legal liability shield for third party content. Many have argued that this liability shield results in Online Platforms not adequately policing their platforms, including online piracy and extremeness content. Thus here we are, with big tech, wholly unprepared to tackle the challenges we face today. A topline concern for this subcommittee must be to protect 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. Were offending out that consumers can be harmed as easily online as in the physical world, and in some cases the online dangers are greater. It is incumbent on us to and this subcommittee, this subcommittee, to make clear that protecting the protections that apply to inperson commerce also apply to virtual space. I think that witness i thank the witnesses for their testimony today, and i recognize Ranking Member rogers for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you, chair. Happy new year everyone. Welcome to our witnesses. Appreciate the chair leading this effort today to highlight online deception. I too want to note that last Congress Chairman walden also held self hearings on platform responsibility. Tive information is not a new problem also an issue 130 years ago when Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph hearst led the aim of, quote, yellow journalism. Just like click bake, fake and sensational headlines sold newspapers and boosted advertising revenue. With far more limit sources of Information Available in the 1890s the American People lost trust in the media. To rebuild trust newspapers had to clean up their act. Now the pulitzer is associatinged withsomething very different. Believe were hat a similar Inflection Point today. Were losing faith in sources we can trust online. To rebuild is this subcommittee, our Witness Panel and members of the media are putting the spotlight on abuses and debates have led to efforts by platforms to take action. Just this wake facebook announced a new policy to combat deep fakes by utilizing Artificial Intelligence. I appreciate miss bickert for being here to discuss this in greater detail. Deep fakes and disinformation can be handled with innovation and empowering people with more information. On the platforms they choose and trust, it makes former Productive Outcomes when people can make the pest decisions for themselves best decisions for themselves rather than reef lying on the firefighter to make decisions for. The. White we would should focus on innovation for major breakthrough, not more regulation or government mandates. As we discuss ways to combat manipulation online, we must ensure that america will remain the Global Leader in a. I. Development. Theres no better place in the world to raise peoples standard of living and make sure this technology is used responsibly. Software is already available to face swap, lipsync, and create facial reenactment to fab prick indicate content. We can use a. I. To go after the bad actors and fight fire with fire. We cannot afford to shy away from it. Pause who would you rather lead the world in Machine Learning technology . America or china . China is sharing its a. I. Surveillance technology with other authoritarian governments like venezuela, its also using technology to control and suppress ethnic minorities, including in chinese concentration camps. The New York Times reported that china is correct collecting dna samples to create images of faces could china be building a tool to further track and crack done on minorities and political dissidents . Imagine the propaganda and lies it could develop with this Technology Behind the great chinese fire wall, whether theres no free speech or an independent press to hold the communist party accountable. That is why america must lead the world in a. I. Development. By upholding our American Values we can use this as a force for good. If a Eye Technology and teach learning a go rhythms can help us detect cancer area and more quickly, christian control drills making Clinical Trials making breakthrough. The continued leadership of our innovate temperatures is crucial to make sure we have the tools to combat online deception. America should be writing the rules for this technology so that real people, not an authoritarian state like china, are empowered. Im also glad we are putting a spotlight on dark patterns. Deceptive laws, fake reviews and bots or the latest version of robocall sams. Im pleased the ftc is targeting the fraud and protecting people. We should get their input as we discuss how to handle dark patterns and be careful where we legislate so that we dont harm the practices that people enjoy. Heavyhanded regulation will make it impossible for online retrailers to provide discounts, hurting lower and meddle income families in a digital Marketplace Services should not the swallowed up by strict definition of a dark pattern. How we make the distinction is important so i look forward to the discussion. Want to thank the panel and i yield back. The gentle lady yields back and the chair now recognizes the chairs. Americans increasingly rely on the internet for fundamental aspect odd their day lay lives, consumers shop january for republicans ranging from groceries to reg and use the internet to telecommute or check the weather and traffic before leave fog the office and use social media to connect with families and friends and is a major source of news and action. When consumers go online they assume the reviews are real and the people on the associating networks are human and that the news and information theyre reading is accurate. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Online actors, including nation states, companies, and individual fraudsters, using online tools to manipulate and tee see americans. Some methods or deexception are well known deceptions are well known, some are new, fooling consumers. Todaystechnology makes its nearly impossible for consumers to rex nice what is real from what is fake whoa eye are people putting so much effort into the development and misuse of technology because they know that trust is the whether forestial, monetary or political gain, if bad actors can make believe believe a lie they can manipulate us into take actions. We knock longer even trust our eyes. Videos can be slowed to make someone appear spokes indicated. Faces can be photoshipped on to someone else residents body. Audio can weed did inside a way that a persons words are taken out of content and the extension of among has become victim. Machine learning dorm algorithms can fake videos that are real, saying or doing thursday theyd never said or did. Face swapping technology has been used to place actor nicholas cage into movie where he never was. Actor director jordan peele created a deep fake oedly showing president obama insulting president trump. Most common use of deep fake is is nonconsensual pornography. And deep Fake Technology was also used to humiliate journalists from india who was reporting on a eightyearold rape victim. Advantagesadvantagesadvantages e bilge the lawsuit of bots and Automated Systems on social media as if theyre real people. Used by companies and other entities to build popularity of brands and respond to Consumer Service requests. Even more alarming this universe 0 bots by both state and nonstate actors to spread disinformation which can influence a very fabric of our society and our politics. Manipulation can be very subtle. Tee deceptive design. Ever tried to unsubscribe from a mailings lest and theres a button to stay subdescribes that is beggar and more colorful and thats deceptive design. Banners designed with black spot that look like hair or dirt on the screen to tick you to touch them on the smartphone. Since the techniques are unnoticed most consumers are have no idea theyre happening. Its almost impossible for experts to detect and while computer scientists are working on technology that can help detect each of these desendtive techniques were in a technologiality tech technological arms race. Regular laters and platforms trying to combat deexception are left playing whackamole. How are these techniques actually affecting our actions and decisions in what steps are companies and regulators taking to mitigate Consumer Fraud and misinformation . I look forward to beginning to answer these questions with our expert Witness Panel today so we can start to provide more transparency and tools for consumers to fight misinformation and deceptive practices and madam chair, this is a very important hearing. I. I just told my colleague this morning but a discussion we had at our chair meeting this morning where the topic was brought up, and i said, oh, were having a hearing on this today. So, this is something a lot of members and obviously the public care about. So thank you for having the hearing today. Gentleman yields back and now the chair recognizes mr. Walden, the Ranking Member of the full committee for five minutes for his opening statement. Good morning, madam chair. Thank you for having the hearing and welcome the second hearing of the new year, we welcome you all here to this important topic and glad to hear from our Witnesses Today even though who thank you for being here. As wig enough internet presents bad actors with those seeking arm others the ability to manipulate user ands take advantage of consumers which are some of the most vulnerable. Arguably the digat eco system is such at harmful acts are easily exacerbated and false informing or fake videos spread hat breakneck speeds. When i was chairman of the committee we tried to tackle the whole issue with platform responsibility head on and be appreciate the input be got from many. Last congress we held hearings and legislated on Online Platforms knock fulfilling their Good Samaritan obligation when it comes to Human Trafficking, company use of algorithms and impact of algorithms influencing consumer behavior. Including the reach of Broadband Services so rural users can benefit. Explaining the Online Advertising ecosystem preservation promotion across border data knows, other relate issues we fate the connected world such as cyber security, internet, Artificial Intelligence and we intighted the head of tech two of the highest profile hearings focuses on platform responsibility. Ceo of facebook came and spent five and a half hour at that table to answer some question questions on the Cambridge Analytica debackle and how facebook collects Consumer Information and what facebook does with the information weapon welcomed welcomed the ceo of twitter, to discuss decisions twitter makes and how decisions impact consumers so departments dont fee feel silenced and policed the chairman brought in the ceo of revveddity and hope the reddit. This hearing today helps with that. This group of experts shine a light on questionable practices i hope can yield fruitful results and lead to swifter action. Following our hearings theres proof that some companies are cleaning up their platforms and we appreciate the work youre doing. Following the hearings on Cambridge Analytica. Eades the used to years to control and delete information, took down malicious entities and promoting like local news operations and during that hearing, representative mckinley pushed mzuckerberg hard on ayes selling opioids without prescriptions on facebook and facebook removed the ads and get a call because he was head to the afternoon, those had been taken down. Notable through the Global Internet forum to counterterrorism, platforms such as facebook, twitter and youtube have been working together to tackle terrorist content and sharing propaganda and exploding digital platforms. Not to suggest the online ecosystem is perfect. Its far from it. Could the companies be doing more . Of course and i expect them to and i think youre working on that. Let me be clear the hearing should serve as an important reminder to all Online Platforms we are watching closely and want to ensure we do not harm innovation but when we see issues or identify clear harms to consumers we do not see online entities taking appropriate action. Were prepared to act. Madam chair, thank you for having the hearing, this if stuff stuff. Im a big advocate of the First Amendment, it can be messy business to all on them to take down things we dont like and still stay on the right side of the First Amendment because vigorous peach speech, even when inaccurate is is still protected and if you go too far then we yell at you for taking things down we like and if you dont take down things we dont like, we yell at you for that. So youre in a bit of a box but 230 is an issue we need revise and take a look at as well. I had to chuckle that we all get the opportunity to revise and extend our remarks throughout the process and clean up our bad grammar to maybe we have is fake reporting but well leave that for another discussion on another day and i yield back, madam chair. The gentleman yields back. And the chair would like tree mind members that all members written statement Opening Statements shall be made part of the record. I would now like to introduce our witnesses for todays hearing. Miss Monika Bickert vicepresident of Global Policy, management as facebook, i want to acknowledge and thank you. I know youre got feeling well and may need to appropriate some testimony put we thank you very much for coming anyway. I want to introduce dr. Joanne donovan, Research Director of the technology and social change Research Project at the shorn stein center on media, policy and Public Policy politics and at the kennedy school. Mr. Justin hurwitz, assistant professor of law and director of nu governance and 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 and finally, dr. This stab harris, exec Tristan Harris executive director for the center for humane technology. He want to thank our witnesses for joining us today. We look forward to your testimony. At this time, the chair will recognize each wilt for five minutes to provide their opening statement. Before we begin i would like to explain the lighting system for those who may not know it. In front of you is a seater of light a series of lights. The lights will be green at the start of your openin