C3 Calls for Google Hearings

The nonprofit Content Creators Coalition, which fights for compensating musical artists for their digital play, is calling on Congress to hold hearings on Google similar to the recent Facebook hearings.

Related: Edge Content Moderation Principles Unveiled

The coalition, which also goes by C3 toll out a digital ad to push the Hill to scrutinize Google practices, just as it did Facebook's in recent hearings with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook has since taken out its own ads promising to better protect users.

C3 argues that Google has "decimiated" the creative economy. "C3 believes that matters concerning Members of Congress about Facebook are only more pronounced with regard to Google," the group said in announcing the ads.

Google last week announced it was taking steps on its own to combat at least one of the hot-button issues surrounding edge provider content moderation--election meddling.

Google said it was requiring added verification for anyone purchasing election ads on Google, and require that advertisers confirm they are a U.S. citizen or legal resident. 

The company also plans to release a transparency report in the summer focused on election ads and describing who is buying the ads and how much they are spending.  

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.