{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-presses-tech-giants-on-algorithms", "CURTIS PRESSES TECH GIANTS ON ALGORITHMS", "2025-10-29", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "John R. Curtis", "C001114", "www.curtis.senate.gov", "curtis", "https://www.curtis.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here or above to watch Curtis\u2019 line of questioning\n\nSenator Curtis underscored that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was crafted to protect platforms acting in good faith as neutral hosts\u2014not to provide blanket immunity for business choices that can intensify harms on debate or potentially radicalize individuals. In a question to the panel, Curtis draws a distinction from the original intent of Section 230 protections and its modern application:\n\n\u201cWe all know that Section 230 was meant to protect platforms that acted in good faith,\u201d said Curtis. \u201cBut when an algorithm downranks speech or drives users towards extremism because it\u2019s good for engagement, is that really good faith moderation? And should Section 230 immunity apply when you as a company or industry make decisions that magnify certain content and downgrade other content?\u201d\n\nDuring questioning, Senator Curtis warned executives that Americans will look back on these hearing as they did when tobacco companies testified that smoking had no negative health impacts. Curtis challenged Markham Erickson, representing Google, about what keeps people on their platforms:\n\n\u201cI actually think this is going to be a lot like the tobacco hearings. You\u2019re saying, years from now, when we look back in history, there\u2019s going to be no study or internal conversations that says, \u2018it\u2019s good to have people stay on our platform longer?\u2019\u201d To which Erickson replied, \u201cSenator, we want people to stay on our platforms.\u201d\n\nView a post on this exchange here.\n\nLater, Will Creeley of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression showed weariness of further government regulation, prompting Curtis to state:\n\n\u201cThe interference starts when [tech companies] apply an algorithm to content\u2026 the moment you make a decision to magnify [that content], do you not own that decision?\u201d\n\nCurtis concluded his remarks with calls to further discussions on this topic, raising questions on why tech companies\u2019 interference deserves protection from the law.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-presses-tech-giants-on-algorithms"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4421911910176277, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}