谷歌CEO因不出席听证会招致两党责难

谷歌（Google）的桑德尔·皮查伊拒绝在参议院情报委员会（Senate Intelligence Committee）下周的听证会上作证，招致了两党的批评。不过委员会主席表示他不太可能发传票强迫这位首席执行官届时出席。

被问到是否考虑采取这一措施时，北卡罗来纳州的参议员理查德·波尔表示：“我一般不会以发传票作为解决问题的手段。谷歌的选择是不参与制定解决方案。这是他们的决定。”

据说，Twitter Inc.的首席执行官杰克·多西和Facebook Inc.的首席运营官雪莉·桑德伯格都计划在9月5日出席有关社交媒体和俄罗斯干预大选的参议院听证会。

Alphabet公司旗下的谷歌之前曾宣布会派出全球事务高级副总裁肯特·沃克。公司曾在周二表示，负责监督和处理外国干涉事务的沃克会前往华盛顿，在听证会那天与议员会面。

不过委员会的女发言人称，波尔向皮查伊求证之后，在周四表示沃克在公司内部的层级不够高。这位参议员表示，是否要派遣合适的人员面对委员会取决于谷歌。该委员会正在调查俄罗斯干预美国大选、操纵社交媒体的事件。

开放的坐席

波尔表示：“坐席就在那，名牌也在那。如果他们希望我们给名牌填个名字，我会填的。”

议员们对于谷歌十分失望，而特朗普总统也从另一个方面批评了这家互联网搜索服务提供商。特朗普本周二发布推文称，谷歌把特朗普的负面信息列在前面，打压支持特朗普的新闻。谷歌回应道：“搜索不是用于制定政治议程的，我们也不会让搜索结果偏袒任何政治意识形态。”

唐纳德·J·特朗普@realDonaldTrump：谷歌搜索“特朗普+新闻”，结果只有假新闻的观点和报道。换句话说，谷歌暗箱操纵了我和其他一些人的搜索结果，所以，几乎全部的故事和新闻都是负面的。CNN的假新闻被排在前面。共和党、保守派和公正的媒体声音却被屏蔽。这难道不违法吗？96%的……

情报委员会里两个党派的人士都力挺波尔，批评皮查伊下周不准备派人出席听证会的做法。情报委员会的民主党领袖、弗吉尼亚州参议员马克·沃纳表示谷歌派出沃克而不是更高级别的官员，是在犯“严重的错误”。

他说：“他的级别和我们不相配。”

缅因州的无党派人士、参议员安格斯·金赞同民主党的意见，他表示谷歌和其他公司都应该派首席执行官出席听证会。

金表示：“这是美国参议院，这是个重要的议题，我们理应得到决策者而不是执行者的说明。”

委员会之前就召集过Facebook、Twitter和谷歌的律师进行听证。今年4月，Facebook的首席执行官马克·扎克伯格在众议院和参议院委员会的听证会上发表了陈述，不过他并未面对过参议院情报委员会。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正 

Google’s Sundar Pichai is facing bipartisan criticism for refusing to testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing next week, but the panel’s chairman signaled he’s unlikely to issue a subpoena to force the chief executive officer to appear.

“I don’t normally subpoena people to be part of the solution,” Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina said when asked if he’s considering such a step. “Google chooses not to participate and being part of the solution. That’s a decision they made.”

Twitter Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg are said to be planning to testify at the Sept. 5 Senate committee hearing on social media and Russian meddling.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google previously announced it would send Kent Walker, its senior vice president for global affairs. The company said Tuesday that Walker, who’s overseeing its efforts to tackle foreign interference, will be in Washington and available to meet with lawmakers on the day of the hearing.

But Burr — who had asked Pichai to testify — said Thursday that Walker wasn’t sufficiently high up in the company, according to a panel spokeswoman. The senator said it’s up to Google whether to send someone acceptable to appear before the committee, which is investigating Russian interference in U.S. elections and its manipulation of social media.

Open Chair

“The chair will be there, the nameplate will be there,” Burr said. “If they want us to fill in a name, I will.”

Lawmakers’ frustration with Google comes as President Donald Trump opened criticism of the dominant internet search provider on another front. He asserted in a tweet on Tuesday that Google promotes anti-Trump search results and suppresses pro-Trump news. The company responded that “search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology.”

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of….

Burr was joined by Intelligence Committee members of both parties in criticizing Pichai’s plans to be a no-show next week. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the Intelligence panel’s top Democrat, said Google is making a “great mistake” by offering to send Walker and not a higher-level official.

“That’s not the level that we should have,” he said.

Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Google and the other companies should all send their CEOs.

“This is the United States Senate, this is an important issue, and we deserve to hear from the decision-makers, not the people who carry out the decisions,” King said.

The panel previously held a hearing with lawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified at House and Senate committee hearings in April though not before the Senate Intelligence panel.