After days of testimony at Capitol Hill by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg following issues of personal information disclosure that could have affected the 2016 elections, Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said he is willing to think about regulating large internet-related companies - but with wariness.
"I'm always concerned about overregulation," Johnson said on WTMJ's Steve Scaffidi show, "but there are enough serious issues involved with the power that companies like Google, Facebook, some of these other large companies have obtained over time, that it's certainly worth considering, but I would always proceed down that path of regulation very, very carefully."
He said that the sessions with Zuckerberg were "a very good hearing," but considered them a first step in a longer process on Facebook.
"The hearing, to me, raised more questions than it answered," he told WTMJ.
"There are very legitimate issues raised about their monopoly power in a number of different areas, whether in the political realm, whether in the advertising realm."
Though he has concerns after the Facebook hearings, and despite Zuckerberg repeatedly not being able to answer every question, he believes the hearings were worthy.
"There was an awful lot of information that he deferred to experts in his company," said Johnson, but "I don't fault the hearing. I don't fault Mr. Zuckerberg for being not being able to answer all the questions."
Johnson spoke much more about his take on the Paul Ryan departure in January 2019, China and North Korea and immigration. Listen above in your podcast player and subscribe to the Steve Scaffidi podcast.
