US Senate considering holding hearings to Elon Musk purchase of Twitter

Some key Senate Democrats are considering calling Elon Musk to testify on his plans to remake Twitter, amid broader calls in Congress for new regulations for tech and social media companies.

There are no imminent plans for hearings, but, “We’re thinking about it,” Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell said in an interview Thursday.

The Washington state Democrat noted the committee has previously had hearings with former Twitter Inc. Chief executive Jack Dorsey, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai. They were questioned about a decades-old legal shield that protects social media companies from liability for user-generated content posted on their sites, commonly referred to as Section 230.

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Markey said the Commerce Committee makes sense as the venue given its jurisdiction over the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

“In terms of what the values are that this company is going to be creating for the new Elon Musk Twitter world, I think that’s actually a necessary role for Congress to play,” he said.

Elon Musk/Twitter question

Can the House Ways And Means or Commerce committees conduct investigations into Musk's purchase of Twitter?