Google CEO Sundar Pichai appeared before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, leaving many in the SEO community puzzled by the questions asked.
It became evident at times that the members of Congress were not well-versed in how search engines operate.
There were moments when it seemed Congress had limited knowledge about Google itself, or how it is different from companies like Apple and Wikipedia.
One would expect the House representatives to be thoroughly prepared when discussing matters with the head of one of the largest companies globally.
However, as learned from the Mark Zuckerberg hearing, expectations should be tempered.
Let’s examine five of the most surprising and baffling moments from yesterday’s hearing.
### Google Does Not Manipulate Results for Individual Queries
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu questioned Pichai about search results for Congressman Steve King, asking:
> “That’s a negative article. But you don’t have a group of people at Google sitting there thinking and trying to modify search results — every time Steve King comes up, a negative article appears. That’s not what’s happening, right?”
Pichai clarified that Google does not manipulate search results in that manner.
### Google Does Not Make iPhones
Rep. Steve King brought up an inappropriate pop-up on his granddaughter’s iPhone:
> “I’m not going to say into the record what kind of language was used around that picture of her grandfather, but I’d ask you: how does that show up on a seven-year-old’s iPhone, who’s playing a kid’s game?”
Pichai informed him that iPhones are manufactured by another company.
### Congress Lacks Understanding of Google Image Search
A query was raised about why images of Donald Trump appear when searching for the word “idiot”:
> “Right now, if you Google the word ‘idiot’ under images, a picture of Donald Trump comes up. I just did that… How would that happen?”
Pichai had to reiterate that Google doesn’t manually alter individual search results.
### Congress Probes Google’s User Tracking Abilities
Rep. Ted Poe inquired if Google could track his phone’s movement around the room:
Google Maps can perform such tasks, depending on the phone’s location settings.
Before Pichai could respond, Poe added:
> “You make $100 million a year… You should be able to answer that question.”
### Accusations of Liberal Bias
Throughout the hearing, accusations of Google’s liberal bias were frequent.
Rep. Lamar Smith referenced a debunked statistic claiming that 96 percent of search results for President Trump are from liberal media sites.
Another topic was leaked emails in which Google employees were instructed to monitor Breitbart for hate speech that violates company policies.
It was explained that a routine review of publishers by Google’s advertising team was the context for this and that decisions regarding hate speech can be challenging.
An erroneous Wikipedia entry led to unfavorable information appearing for Rep. Ted Lieu, which was quickly corrected. Google clarifies that they do not write Wikipedia entries but display them in search results.
### Missed Opportunities
In addition to the uninformed questions directed at Pichai, Congress faced criticism for missed opportunities during the hearing.
There was a chance to question Pichai on how Google utilizes user data for advertising.
Some argue that Congress did not adequately follow-up on the relevant questions it did pose.
As a result, Pichai was able to circumvent important issues.
Perhaps more substantial outcomes could have emerged if the House Judiciary Committee had focused less on debating Google’s alleged political bias.
