Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies to Congress | Recode

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will answer questions before the House Judiciary Committee today in what has become a critical moment for the company as it deals with a growing list of prickly ethical debates and controversies.

Tuesday’s public testimony will be Pichai’s first before Congress in a year in which many of his tech peers have also traveled to Washington. He notoriously declined an invitation to attend a hearing in September that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey attended. The Senate committee that held that hearing left an empty chair and nameplate in his place.

The hearing should touch on a number of topics, including accusations that the search giant’s algorithms are biased against conservative content. Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube have all denied that their algorithms suppress conservative content — and even said as much in front of this very committee earlier this year.

Another issue that will come up: Google’s controversial plans to launch in China, codenamed Project Dragonfly. The company has drawn harsh criticism over the plan to offer a modified version of its search engine that complies with the Chinese government’s censorship. A leaked prototype of the product blocked search results for terms such as “human rights” and “student protest.” Pichai did did not mention China by name in his written opening remarks, which were released last night.

It’s likely other issues will arise. When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in April, for example, the questions were wide-ranging. The hearing will start at 10 am ET Tuesday morning and you can follow along live below.

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