Top executives at Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) went to Capitol Hill Wednesday to say they are working to prevent foreign interference in U.S. election, but whether they convinced lawmakers and the general public — and can prevent further intrusion — is up for debate.
XTwitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook, sought to persuade skeptical members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. They maintained that, since the 2016 presidential election, they are better prepared to combat foreign interference on their platforms. But they acknowledge more work needs to be done.
"We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act," Sandberg told the panel. "This interference was completely unacceptable and we will keep fighting."
Dorsey, who referred to Twitter as a public square, said his company also was unprepared for the problems initially faced.
"Abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots and human coordination, disinformation campaigns and divisive filter bubbles, that's not a healthy public square," Dorsey said. "Required changes won't be fast or easy."
Dorsey said Twitter has removed millions of fake or suspicious accounts, including bots and trolls, using artificial intelligence and similar tools to achieve its goals.
Sandberg, meanwhile, said Facebook is continuously searching to identify false news and fake accounts. The company is building a force of 20,000 people devoted to the task. Facebook said it disabled 583 million accounts in the first quarter of this year. The company estimates that 3% to 4% of its 2.3 billion monthly active users are fake.
Fourth Senate Hearing
It was the fourth such hearing held by the Senate committee. The gathering again raised the likelihood that the social media giants could face regulations to curtail the abuses on their platforms.
Twitter, Facebook and Google-owner Alphabet (GOOGL) are under intense scrutiny by Congress after it was revealed that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica accessed personal information from 87 million users of Facebook without permission. The Cambridge Analytica data-privacy scandal revolves around fake news and Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. Investigations revealed how intruders used the social media platforms for propaganda, misinformation and fake news.
Republicans and Democrats expressed a willingness to regulate the social media platforms during the Twitter and Facebook hearing.
"We've identified the problem and now it's time to identify the solution," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the committee's chairman. "If the answer is regulation, let's have honest dialogue what that would look like."
With the 2018 midterms two months away, lawmakers remain concerned that hackers could still exploit Facebook, Alphabet and Twitter to spread disinformation to reach millions of unsuspecting Americans.
"The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee. "Where we go from here is an open question."
Google Deeply Concerned
Senators invited Alphabet to the Senate hearing but rejected its choice for a spokesman. The committee decided Google Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker was not a high enough official to testify. On Tuesday, Walker published a blog post in which he outlined several measures Alphabet took to fix the problem.
"We have continued our efforts and work diligently to identify and remove actors from our products who mislead others regarding their identity," he wrote. "Google remains deeply concerned about attempts to undermine democratic elections."
Wednesday afternoon, Dorsey addressed allegations Twitter unfairly targets conservative-leaning posts and accounts during an afternoon hearing on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. President Trump made those same charges last week and threatened Google with regulation. Tech giants deny the accusations.
Before the House panel, Dorsey again defended how Twitter protects openness and civility of public conversation on its platform.
"Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact," Dorsey said in his opening remarks. "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules."
He added, "From a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter (wants) to keep all voices on the platform."
Shares of Twitter closed at 32.72, down 6% on the stock market today. Facebook dropped 2.3% to 167.18. Alphabet fell 1% to 1,199.10.
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