Senate Panel Invites Three Tech Firms to Another Hearing on Russian Influence
26 Juillet 2018 - 12:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Byron Tau
WASHINGTON -- Representatives from Facebook Inc., Alphabet
Inc.'s Google and Twitter Inc. have been invited to appear before
the U.S. Senate in September for another hearing on foreign
activity on their networks.
According to two people familiar with the matter, the three tech
companies have been invited to appear before the Senate
Intelligence Committee during the first week of September as part
of the panel's work on investigating Russian activity during the
2016 election.
Tech companies, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have been
under intense scrutiny from regulators over the use of their
platform by Russians during the 2016 election.
U.S. government investigators have said that social-media
networks were used by a Russian-government backed propaganda group
to sow discord in U.S. politics and inflame public opinion during
the last presidential campaign.
More than 3,000 Facebook ads were purchased by a pro-Kremlin
group called the Internet Research Agency during the 2016 election.
Those ads were released publicly by congressional investigators in
May.
Facebook has acknowledged that data from as many as 87 million
of its users may have been improperly shared with Cambridge
Analytica, a now-closed political consulting firm that did work for
President Donald Trump's campaign.
Twitter has also said it found and suspended more than three
thousand accounts on its platform tied to a Russian
government-backed propaganda outfit.
Both companies have taken steps to increase privacy and curb
abuse on their platforms after the revelations.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, also saw Russian content
spread over its platform during 2016. The service said in February
it is planning changes to give users more context for videos
promoting conspiracy theories or state-sponsored content.
Lawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google last appeared before
the Senate Intelligence Committee in fall 2017. Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg also appeared before several other congressional panels
in April for a tumultuous hearing over the company's data and
privacy practices.
According to a 2017 report from the U.S. intelligence community,
the highest levels of the Russian government were involved in
directing the electoral interference to boost Mr. Trump at the
expense of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Russia denies any interference, while Mr. Trump has called the
investigations into election interference a "witch hunt."
The website BuzzFeed first reported the invitations to Twitter,
Facebook and Google.
Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 25, 2018 18:43 ET (22:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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