Dr. Farid Provides Testimony to Congress

By Eric Craypo

UC Berkeley Professor Hany Farid, a member of the vision science faculty, provided testimony to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The hearing, "A Country in Crisis: How Disinformation Online is Dividing the Nation," took place on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 via Cisco Webex.

In his written testimony, Dr. Farid asks, "How, in 20 short years, did we go from the promise of the internet to democratize access to knowledge and make the world more understanding and enlightened, to this litany of daily horrors? Due to a combination of naivete, ideology, willful ignorance, and a mentality of growth at all costs, the titans of tech have simply failed to install proper safeguards on their services. We can and we must do better when it comes to contending with some of the most violent, harmful, dangerous, hateful, and fraudulent content online. We can and we must do better when it comes to contending with the misinformation apocalypse that has emerged over the past few years."

Watch the Hearing

More About Professor Farid

In addition to being a member of the Vision Science Faculty at the School of Optometry, Dr. Farid holds a joint appointment in Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.

Farid Profile