5 ways PR pros can help tech clients weather increasing scrutiny

Online companies—especially social media platforms—are facing renewed examination as the midterm elections near. Here’s how to advise digital players as congressional hearings loom.

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Another tech reckoning is coming to Capitol Hill.

As tech executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google prepare for a fresh round of testimony this fall before Congress about election interference, it’s obvious that they are operating in a new reality. Never before has the division between Bay Area companies and policymakers at the state and federal level been more evident.

As Ben Smith put it, “The blinding rise of Donald Trump has masked another major trend in American politics: the palpable, and perhaps permanent, turn against the tech industry.”

The tech titans who used to be seen as the bright new avatars of American innovation are increasingly being portrayed as sinister centers of unaccountable power, a transition likely to have major consequences for the industry and U.S. politics.

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