5 Questions Congress Should Ask Google’s Sundar Pichai

House Judiciary Committee in a hearing focused on transparency, data collection, and filtering. Until now, Pichai has mostly avoided the public lashings in Washington that his contemporaries, like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, have received. In September, Google declined to send either Pichai or Larry Page, CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, to testify alongside Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senators instead vented their frustrations with Google to an empty chair, artfully reserved with a name plate for Page.

Pichai has since held closed door meetings with leading Republicans, including House majority leader Kevin McCarthy, who has repeatedly accused Google of skewing its search results in favor of Democrats and their causes. Both McCarthy and Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte have signaled that these charges will be central to the committee’s questioning.

“Online technology is now an integral part of most Americans’ modern lifestyle,” Goodlatte said in a statement announcing the hearing. “However, the technology behind online services like social media and Internet search engines can also be used to suppress particular viewpoints and manipulate public opinion.”

In his prepared remarks, released by the committee Monday night, Pichai defended Google against such attacks. “I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way. To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests,” he wrote. “We are a company that provides platforms for diverse perspectives and opinions—and we have no shortage of them among our own employees.”

That won’t likely stop conservatives on the committee from crying censorship. As with so many of these hearings, you can be certain there will be plenty of partisan grandstanding. But for those lawmakers interested in doing more than pandering to the party, there are plenty of pressing questions regarding the way Google works. Congress should want answers. Here are just a few.

Why did Google change its mind about pursuing business in China?

Google has faced vehement opposition from employees and members of both parties over its plans to explore building a censored search engine for China, which was first reported by The Intercept this summer. After all, the company loudly shut down its Chinese search offerings in 2010 over concerns about censorship. Now the question is: What changed?

So far, Google executives have been tight-lipped about the program, called Dragonfly. At the Senate hearing where Google was a no-show in September, senators condemned Google’s renewed interest in China and suggested it was one reason top executives declined their invitation. During a second hearing with the Senate Commerce Committee later that month, lawmakers repeatedly pressed the company’s chief privacy officer, Keith En

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