[imagesource: Getty]

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the image above is the cardboard cutout mentioned in the headline.

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t look human at the best of times, but the one we’re talking about is way better.

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that a large mob stormed the Capitol on January 6 (including one very embarrassing South African).

Trevor Noah unpacked the riots if you need a refresher.

A number of hearings and investigations have been underway since then, the latest calling on Sundar Pichai of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey of Twitter to testify before two committees of the House of Representatives on social media’s role in promoting extremism and misinformation.

Via The Guardian, a small but effective protest was erected outside the building by activist group SumOfUs.

The group set up life-sized cardboard cutouts of the tech executives as the insurrectionists whose images went viral in the days following the riots, including the now infamous ‘QAnon Shaman’.

That honour went to Zuckerberg:

Image: SumOfUs, Twitter

The rest of the cutouts for your consideration:

Image: SumOfUs, Twitter

If that’s too small, here’s a tweet from SumOfUs:

HAPPENING RIGHT NOW: SumOfUs portraying the Big Tech CEOs as key insurrectionists after they allowed their platforms to be flooded with election disinformation and conspiracy theories. It’s time for Congress to hold these companies to account.

Credit: Eric Kayne – AP pic.twitter.com/9J2zQqz1zj

— SumOfUs (@SumOfUs) March 25, 2021

The hearing opened with video testimony that not only accused the social media platforms of playing a role in the organisation of the riots, but also of condoning the spread of medical misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.

“You failed to meaningfully change after your platform has played a role in fomenting insurrection and abetting the spread of the virus and trampling American civil liberties,” said the Democratic representative Frank Pallone, the chair of the energy and commerce committee.

“Your business model itself has become the problem and the time for self-regulation is over. It’s time we legislate to hold you accountable,” he added.

He later said that the platforms are “not non-profits or religious organizations that are trying to do a good job for humanity”, and that they’re “making money”.

“The witnesses here today have demonstrated time and time again, that self-regulation has not worked,” echoed Jan Schakowsky, a Democratic representative from Illinois. “They must be held accountable for allowing disinformation and misinformation to spread.”

Attention was given to the ways that social media has been used to marginalise minority groups like African Americans, Spanish-speakers, and the LQBTQIA+ community.

If you’d like to watch Pichai, Zuckerberg, and Jack Dorsey bring grilled by Congress, have at it:

[source:guardian]