TWTR Twitter Inc

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. Google and Facebook declined to comment.

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 19:07 ET (23:07 GMT)

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