Facebook and Google Feel Chill From Once-Friendly Washington
- Grilling of tech executives shows thirst for regulation
- Era of awe for Silicon Valley ends and lawmakers prepare blows
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Washington officials once dazzled by the swashbuckling entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are now openly questioning the freedom they’ve bestowed on Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Google.
Emboldened by a president who’s openly contemptuous of the companies -- despite his own reliance on Twitter -- and intelligence reports linking popular online sites to election interference, lawmakers from both parties grilled top tech executives this week about whether, and how, Washington should rein them in.