--- title: Protester Interrupts Dorsey Hearing and Auctioneer Steps In description: A protester interrupted the Dorsey hearing before an auctioneer turned representative drowned her out with a mock auction. canonical: https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-05T19:52:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:41.700Z og:title: This Member of Congress Shut Down a Protester by Auctioneering og:description: He disrupted her disruption with a fake auction to the room's delight og:url: https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae864ac5d111c714/698939888fd2eebcdb35c8d6/protestorjackdorseyhearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5765 og:image:height: 3243 og:image:alt: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Testifies To House Hearing On Company's Transparency and Accountability og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Member of Congress Shut Down a Protester by Auctioneering twitter:description: He disrupted her disruption with a fake auction to the room's delight twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae864ac5d111c714/698939888fd2eebcdb35c8d6/protestorjackdorseyhearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Member of Congress Shut Down a Protester by Auctioneering > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Sep 5, 2018 7:52 PM UTC  Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey testifies during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing about Twitter's transparency and accountability, on Capitol Hill, September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, Dorsey faced questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about how foreign operatives use their platforms in attempts to influence and manipulate public opinion. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey testifies during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing about Twitter's transparency and accountability, on Capitol Hill, September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, Dorsey faced questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about how foreign operatives use their platforms in attempts to influence and manipulate public opinion. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Sep 5, 2018 7:52 PM UTC It wasn’t quite a scene straight out of an improv comedy show, but it was close. As [Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey](http://time.com/5360638/twitter-alex-jones-ban-dorsey/) testified during Wednesday’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing before Congress, alt-right [conspiracy theorist](http://time.com/4746773/rob-gronkowski-white-house-sean-spicer-reaction/) Laura Loomer stood up to disrupt the proceedings with a plea. “I’m asking you President Donald Trump. Please help us Mr. President, before it’s too late,” she said. “Because Jack Dorsey is trying to influence the election, to sway the election, so that Democrats can steal the election. That is why he is censoring and shadow banning conservatives.” Loomer has been banned from major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for violating the rules the rules in the past. This year, she alleged that the [shootings at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas](http://time.com/5286666/school-shootings-new-normal-santa-fe/) were staged. She was about to be swiftly dismissed from the room. But before she could finish, Missouri Rep. Billy Long took control of the room. And he drew on his past experience as an auctioneer of all things. Staging a mock auction to drown out the sound of her argument, he began rattling off dollar amounts in increments as though people were bidding. He appeared to have started at $12, amusing some in the room who appeared to appreciate the surprising moment. > [](https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1037415541558964224) You can see Long in action as an auctioneer in a past life in the video below. As to be expected, people were quick to sound off at the surprising moment. > [](https://twitter.com/kobrien%5Fscribe/status/1037422400495865858) > [](https://twitter.com/robferdman/status/1037422332686598144) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/"},"headline":"This Member of Congress Shut Down a Protester by Auctioneering","datePublished":"2018-09-05T19:52:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:41.700Z","description":"A protester interrupted the Dorsey hearing before an auctioneer turned representative drowned her out with a mock auction.","url":"https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Congress","politics","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae864ac5d111c714/698939888fd2eebcdb35c8d6/protestorjackdorseyhearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae864ac5d111c714/698939888fd2eebcdb35c8d6/protestorjackdorseyhearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Testifies To House Hearing On Company's Transparency and Accountability","caption":"Protester at Dorsey Hearing Drowned Out By Auctioneer","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5387788/dorsey-hearing-protestor/","name":"This Member of Congress Shut Down a Protester by Auctioneering"}}]}] ```