Twitter CEO meets with lawmakers to talk net neutrality, privacy

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met with several U.S. lawmakers on Thursday to discuss issues such as data privacy and net neutrality.

{mosads}

“Pleasure to meet with @Twitter’s @jack today,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) tweeted. Markey also wrote that Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) attended the meeting with Dorsey as well.

Markey wrote that they had discussed net neutrality, online privacy and immigration.

Pleasure to meet with @Twitter’s @jack today, along with @SenBlumenthal, @SenAmyKlobuchar and @SenatorCantwell, to discuss #NetNeutrality, online #privacy, and immigration. Let’s continue the conversation.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) May 17, 2018

In the House, Dorsey met with Reps. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) and Cedric Richmond (D-La).

Each is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and have taken part in its efforts to make tech companies more diverse. Clyburn said in a tweet that they addressed this directly with Dorsey along with election security and digital ad transparency legislation. 

Appreciate @jack for taking the time to meet with @RepBarbaraLee @RepRichmond @RepTerriSewell and I on #tech2020, cyber and election security, diversity and #HonestAds Act. pic.twitter.com/xFwoSGkpBc

— James E. Clyburn (@Clyburn) May 17, 2018

Dorsey also met with top Republican lawmakers including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (S.D.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (Ore.). The Twitter CEO’s conversations with them focused more on potential misuse of the platform, according to tweets the lawmakers posted after their meetings.

“As part of Twitter’s regular outreach to Capitol Hill, Jack is meeting with several members of Congress on a wide range of issues, including our work to promote the public health of conversations online and to protect data privacy,” a Twitter spokesperson said of the meetings.

I appreciated a productive conversation w ceo @jack Dorsey of twitter Found out he follows me + we discussed how his company is making sure the platform is used properly pic.twitter.com/VPmZc3NRqT

— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 17, 2018

Tweeting about #Twitter seems like something straight out of Inception, but I had a great conversation with CEO @Jack about the power of his platform and what they’re doing to protect users. #Tweetception pic.twitter.com/e8HXo5ldFh

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) May 17, 2018

Great conversation with @jack today about consumer protection, algorithms, and data privacy. I look forward to further discussions on these important issues in the near future. pic.twitter.com/MpBKyG01vs

— Rep. Greg Walden (@repgregwalden) May 17, 2018

Earlier this year, Thune’s Commerce Committee held a hearing on extremist use of social media platforms. The hearing’s witness panel featured representatives from major technology companies, including Twitter.

An aide for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat Mark Warner (Va.) on Thursday confirmed that the senator also met with the Twitter CEO to discuss Twitter’s forthcoming transparency center, data issues and other unspecified regulations. 

Warner has been a vocal critic of Twitter over how it handled Russian election interference on its platform during the 2016 presidential election.