Google CEO Sundar Pichai prepares to testify as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks before the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Legal Lawmakers clash over claims of Google's anti-GOP bias

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday became the latest tech executive to face the ire of congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill in an escalating fight over allegations of online bias — claims the company and Democratic lawmakers flatly dispute.

Those claims proved to be the central thread in a marathon House Judiciary hearing with Pichai, which also saw critiques and questions from both sides of the aisle on issues ranging from Google's flirtations with launching a search product in China to antitrust concerns to digital privacy.


In an unusual move, House Majority Leaderdisturbed by the prospect of Google developing a product that would blacklist certain words at the Chinese government's behest.

While Pichai said the company currently has "no plans to launch" a search product in China, he declined to rule out doing so in the future during an exchange with Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee.

Pichai framed the company's pursuit as "a limited effort internally," indicating they are not currently in discussions over it with Chinese authorities. But he acknowledged the company at one point had over 100 staffers working on the project.

Lawmakers broached a number of other hot-button topics, including political advertising on the platform, Google CEO Sundar Pichai Android phone location tracking, concerns over white supremacist content on Google subsidiary