Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday headed before US lawmakers for two days of grueling hearings on how Russia allegedly used their services to try to sway last year’s US presidential election.
At stake for the Silicon Valley companies are their public images and the threat of tougher advertising regulations in the US, where the technology sector has grown accustomed to light treatment from the government.
Facebook, the world’s largest social network, on Monday added fuel to the debate when it told US Congress in written testimony that 126 million Americans could have seen politically divisive posts that originated in Russia under fake names.
Photo: AFP
That is in addition to 3,000 US political ads that Facebook says Russians bought on its platform.
Google and Twitter have also said that people in Russia used their services to spread messages in the run-up to last year’s election.
The Russian government has denied it intended to influence the election, in which US President Donald Trump, a Republican, defeated Democratic Party candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
US lawmakers have responded angrily to the idea of foreign meddling, introducing legislation to require online platforms to say who is running election ads and what audiences are targeted.
“The companies need to get ahead of the curve here,” Center for Strategic and International Studies senior vice president James Lewis said.
If they can, he added, they might avoid regulation.
Lewis, speaking during the Reuters Cyber Summit in Washington, said he expects European officials to watch the US hearings closely.
Facebook and Twitter are dispatching their general counsels, Colin Stretch and Sean Edgett, to appear before the Senate subcommittee, while Google is sending director of law enforcement and information security Richard Salgado.
“Our goal is to bring people closer together; what we saw from these actors was an insidious attempt to drive people apart and we’re determined to prevent it from happening again,” Stretch was set to tell lawmakers, according to an advance copy of his remarks.
Facebook and Twitter have taken steps toward self-regulation, saying they would create their own public archives of election-related ads and also apply more specific labels to such ads.
Google followed, saying it would create a database of election ads, including ones on YouTube.
The companies have also disclosed new details about the extent of Russia-based material, raising alarms about a sector that once inspired idealism.
“The Internet was seen as a great engine for promoting democracy and transparency. Now we are all discovering that it can also be a tool for hijacking democracy,” Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow for digital policy Karen Kornbluh said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from