Facebook, Twitter to defend companies against charges of bias in elections

Facebook and Twitter executives plan to defend their companies in two congressional hearings, arguing they are aggressively trying to root out foreign actors who want to do the United States harm just weeks before the mid-term elections.

Twitter's CEO will also face angry Republicans who claim the companies have shown evidence of bias against conservatives.

In prepared testimony released ahead of a House hearing Wednesday afternoon, Jack Dorsey says his company does not use political ideology to make decisions.

Congress has sharply criticised the social media companies over the last year as it has become clear that they were at the forefront of Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and beyond.

That scrutiny has led to additional criticism over the companies' respect for user privacy and whether conservatives are being censored frustrations that are particularly heightened ahead of the mid-terms.

Want to make Twitter a better place? Social network wants your suggestions

With social media platforms increasingly coming under fire for fanning hate speeches, trolling and failing to stop spread of fake news, Twitter has said it is committed to making the platform less toxic.

It is seeking help of users in improving what it calls the "conversational health" so that it ceases to become a platform for abuse, spam and manipulation.

"We're committing to helping increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation around the world, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable toward progress," Twitter said in a blog post this week.

"We simply can't and don't want to do this alone," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted.

Those who are interested in helping it define what health means for Twitter and how it should approach measuring it, they can submit a proposal by filling up a form posted on Twitter's official blog by April 13.