Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 24, 2018.Markus Schreiber/The Associated Press
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify next week at a congressional hearing on the company’s business practices, just three months after aides put up an empty chair to symbolize his refusal to appear.
Pichai’s scheduled Dec. 5 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee comes after he travelled to Washington in late September to meet privately with lawmakers peeved by his refusal to appear. After that private meeting, Pichai promised to come back to testify.
Among other things, lawmakers are expected to grill him on whether Google rigs its influential search engine to stifle conservative voices. President Donald Trump asserts that Google’s search engine favours media coverage that he believes distributes “fake news.”
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.