By Bowdeya Tweh
App stores operated by Google and Apple removed the social-media platform Parler from their marketplaces, citing violations of their rules after the Capitol riot. But Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is likely going to face questions about the basis for the decision and how his company's YouTube platform dealt with calls to violence after the election.
In written testimony (https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/PichaiTestimony032521.pdf) submitted before the hearing, Mr. Pichai said YouTube removed 13,000 channels between October and December of last year for promoting violence and violent extremism. He also said YouTube teams removed live streams or videos after the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol that violated the service's rules and later began issuing strikes to users such as former President Donald Trump who violated rules in making unsubstantiated claims about election fraud.
How does this connect to Parler? Google has said it acted against the platform because of continued posts--after prior warnings about such behavior--that seek "to incite ongoing violence in the U.S." Officials at Parler, which grew in popularity for its looser content-moderation rules, have said that calls to violence in the run-up to the Capitol riot happened on other platforms.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-25-21 1204ET
