Congress Considers Reining in Big Tech

Silicon Valley is back in Washington, D.C.

Executives from the two of nation's leading tech companies — CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg — went to Congress this week to face questions from lawmakers about their efforts to prevent foreign influence in our elections and to respond to charges of bias against conservatives.

It’s not the first time Congress has grilled tech executives in an attempt to untangle the effect of social media on democracy; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg famously appeared in front of both the House and Senate this spring.

At this week’s hearing, lawmaker expressed a desire to do something to rein in the hugely influential companies. But it was unclear, exactly, what that should be.

"The size and reach of your platforms demand that we as policymakers do our job to ensure proper oversight, transparency and protection for American users and our democratic institutions," Democratic Senator Mark Warner told the executives in his opening remarks at the committee on Wednesday. "The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end. Where we go from here though is an open question."

This week on Money Talking, Charlie Herman speaks with Rana Foroohar, global business columnist for the Financial Times, about what, if anything, Congress can do to regulate Silicon Valley — and how it may affect the way technology companies do business.

Facebook and Twitter executives testify on Capitol Hill as lawmakers consider ways to regulate the companies. What, exactly, might they do?