Yahoo accused of lying to Congress

October 17, 2007

Washington, DC - Yahoo Inc. has been accused of lying to Congress by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos, regarding the company's role in a Chinese human rights case.

Yahoo Inc. has been accused of lying to Congress by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Tom Lantos regarding the company's role in a Chinese human rights case.

Lantos on Tuesday asked Yahoo Inc. officials to testify next month about the Internet company's role in a case that sent a journalist to prison on a decade-long sentence.

Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., asked Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Michael Callahan to appear Nov. 6 to discuss the disclosure of information to Chinese authorities about the journalist, Shi Tao.

"Our committee has established that Yahoo provided false information to Congress in early 2006," Lantos said in a written statement. "We want to clarify how that happened, and to hold the company to account for its actions both before and after its testimony proved untrue. And we want to examine what steps the company has taken since then to protect the privacy rights of its users in China."

He said a Yahoo official testified last year before his subcommittee that the company knew nothing "about the nature of the investigation" into Shi Tao, a pro-democracy activist now serving 10 years on what Lantos called "trumped-up charges."

"We have now learned there is much more to the story than Yahoo let on, and a Chinese government document that Yahoo had in their possession at the time of the hearing left little doubt of the government's intentions," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. "U.S. companies must hold the line and not work hand in glove with the secret police."