AP
Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai was grilled about a wild YouTube conspiracy theory that claims that Hillary Clinton drinks the blood of children.
- It followed a report from The Washington Post, which said the so-called "Frazzledrip" conspiracy is alive and well on YouTube.
- Democrat Jamie Raskin asked how Google is dealing with the Frazzledrip conspiracy.
- Pichai was careful to dodge specifics, but acknowledged YouTube needs to do more to tackle misinformation.
Sundar Pichai faced a barrage of bizarre questions during his first Congress grilling on Tuesday. The Google CEO was asked why pictures of President Donald Trump come up when you image search the term "idiot," and was also forced to politely explain that iPhones are made by Apple, not Google, to Rep. Steve King.
But perhaps the strangest line of questioning came from Democrat Jamie Raskin, who picked up a copy of The Washington Post, and began citing lines from its report on a twisted YouTube conspiracy theory that claims that Hillary Clinton drinks the blood of children.
The so-called "Frazzledrip" conspiracy was feverishly spread by far-right internet users earlier this year, at which point YouTube removed a bunch of clips. But the Post claims that "dozens of videos" discussing the roundly debunked theory remain online and have been viewed millions of times.
The Post brought 16 of the videos to YouTube's attention. Only one was removed for violating its policies. It featured images of a "body on a table before restrained children" and "Clinton with a bloodied mouth and fangs," the Post said. YouTube does not have a policy to remove misinformation, the Post said, but will take down graphic or violent content and hate speech.
After directly quoting from the Frazzledrip report, Raskin asked Pichai: "What is your company policy on that? And are you trying to deal with it?"
The Google CEO was careful to dodge the specifics of the Frazzledrip conspiracy, refusing to reference it directly in his responses to Raskin. He did, however, say YouTube needs to do more to tackle misinformation.
"We are constantly undertaking efforts to deal with misinformation. We have clearly stated policies and we have made lots of progress in many of the areas... over the past year - so, for example, in areas like terrorism, child safety, and so on," he said, adding that he would follow-up on the specifics of Raskin's request.
At the heart of YouTube's handling of such videos is balancing the website's function as a platform for free speech with its need to protect users from inappropriate content. With 400 hours of new video uploaded every minute, according to Pichai, that is not an easy task.
"It's our responsibility, I think, to make sure YouTube is a platform for freedom of expression, but it's responsible and contributes positively to society," he said. "But I want to acknowledge there is more work to be done. With our growth comes more responsibility. And we are committed to doing better as we invest more in this area."
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