Overview of the Senate hearing on foreign influence in social media, which heard testimony from Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey

Facebook and Twitter Finally Face the Music Matt Binder / Mashable : Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweets opening testimony during congressional hearing Don Reisinger / Fortune : Watch Here: Twitter and Facebook Executives Face Off With the Senate Intelligence Committee Sara Salinas / CNBC : Watch Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify at the Senate Intelligence Committee Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch : Highlights from the Senate Intelligence hearing with Facebook and Twitter Richard Nieva / CNET : Jack Dorsey defends Twitter from charges of bias against conservatives PYMNTS.com : Digital Privacy, Security Issues Take Spotlight At Congressional Hearings Mark Sullivan / Fast Company : Here are 10 likely reasons for Google's no-show at today's hearing on foreign meddling in U.S. elections Erin Winick / MIT Technology Review : Facebook and Twitter, but not Google, appear before Congress Jillian D'Onfro / CNBC : Senators blast Google executives for not showing up to hearings on election meddling New York Times : Republicans Accuse Twitter of Bias Against Conservatives David McCabe / Axios : Twitter chief Dorsey pressed over liberal bias claims Rob Price / Business Insider : Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got grilled by Congress for claims of anti-conservative bias he says just aren't true Kieren McCarthy / The Register : Not so much changing their tune as enabling autotune: Facebook, Twitter bigwigs nod and smile to US senators Tweets: @politico : InfoWars' Alex Jones yells at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as he left the Senate hearing on foreign electioneering on social media. Jones, known for spreading baseless conspiracy theories, alleges that tech companies are biased against conservatives. https://politi.co/2CmUaVV pic.twitter.com/eRPCuYKQUF Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Barton also doesn't believe @jack looks the way @jack should look: “You don't look like what a CEO of Twitter should look like.” http://twitter.com/... Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : I just walked thru security at the Senate building with Alex Jones. http://twitter.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Members of the U.S. Senate Intel Committee appear reasonably well-informed about the internet, social media, privacy and security and have reasonable questions for top execs at Facebook and Twitter, who appear to be taking their concerns seriously. Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : Wyden wants Facebook to publicly disclose its internal privacy audits, which are done every 2 years per the FTC consent decree. Sandberg: “I can't commit right at this moment to making that public...a lot of that contains sensitive information.” But will work with Sen on issue. Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Not a good look. http://www.cnbc.com/... http://twitter.com/... Sheera Frenkel / @sheeraf : It didn't pay for Google to not show up. Several senators have now directed their offices to take a closer look at disinformation on YouTube, at Google's privacy policies. Their absence was read as “haughty” and “disrespectful” by several senators I spoke with today. Sheera Frenkel / @sheeraf : Meanwhile, the debate over content moderation (and whether there is a conservative bias by tech companies) is a clear cut partisan issue. The stunt appearances by Alex Jones, Laura Loomer and Chuck Johnson show that right-wing personalities will rally against alleged bias. Richard Burr / @senatorburr : Working together, I am confident we can find a path forward to face down those who seek to use social media to sow discord and weaken our democracy. Thank you to @Twitter's @Jack Dorsey and @Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg for joining the Committee today to work towards a solution. pic.twitter.com/FNeaaStUaA Sheera Frenkel / @sheeraf : Here are my takeaways from a long day in DC: Sandberg was more polished but both House and Senate committee members walked away impressed by @jack's candor in answering questions. There seems to be goodwill between Congress and Facebook/Twitter that didn't exist 6 months ago. Tony Romm / @tonyromm : 6. look for more written answers from Facebook and Twitter to come in a month or more, per unresolved questions at both hearings.otherwise, we're wrapping up here, thanks for hangin' y'all Tony Romm / @tonyromm : 3. No big bombshells but there was bipartisan interest in regulation w/r/t foreign interference but only Warner has ideas for how. That'll prob come down to if Dems take Congress. I was surprised to hear Ds and Rs both sound alarm on deepfakes, btw Tony Romm / @tonyromm : 1. FB/Twitter were spared from super awk moments. Sheryl didn't get pressed on Cambridge. Dorsey escaped an anti-bias hearing without much discussion of Trump or even InfoWars, despite Alex Jones being outside. You can decide for yourselves if lawmakers should have been tougher Tony Romm / @tonyromm : 2. It was first time for both Sandberg and Dorsey testifying, and they did fine. Lawmakers themselves, particularly the House, expressed they were p impressed by Dorsey's ability to speak candidly. He didn't sound scripted. Makes you wonder why some execs hid from DC for so long Tony Romm / @tonyromm : 4. Google's decision not to send a CEO seems even more curious. They were going to face awkward questions on things like China, and yes, their opponents lobbied for that to happen, but being absent = no opportunity to respond publicly — lawmakers have more reason to grumble now Max Tani / @maxwelltani : the wire images of alex jones on capitol hill today are pretty great pic.twitter.com/doahKw9mwx Dick Costolo / @dickc : the previous one was not much to look at, either. https://twitter.com/... Roger Cheng / @rogerwcheng : No matter what you think of @jack, you kinda have to feel for him in this marathon hearing sessions. After two and a half hours before the Senate, he's fielding questions on his own for the next few hours. I'm tired just watching all this. Daisuke Wakabayashi / @daiwaka : I think @sundarpichai made a mistake by not agreeing to show up at the hearing. He probably thought (correctly) that he's not the best person to answer these questions, but that misses the point. This is not about providing the best information https://twitter.com/... @jack : We've learned from 2016 and more recently from other nation's elections how to help protect the integrity of our elections. Better tools, stronger policy, and new partnerships are already in place. We intend to understand the efficacy of these measures to continue to get better. Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : As pointed out to me by someone: We haven't heard the words “Cambridge Analytica” once this whole hearing. Incredible how that scandal has moved into the rearview mirror. Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : A big theme of this hearing: Users don't know what's happening behind the scenes. When an account is suspended, users don't know why. If something becomes popular on a network, users don't know it's because there's a coordinated campaign going on. They don't see bots vs humans. Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : Sen. Harris asks how much $$ Facebook made from ads placed by foreign actors abusing the platform. Sandberg says .004% of $FB's organic content, free posts, not ads. Harris asks what percentage of $FB's content is inorganic, ie. ads. Sandberg says she'll get back to her. Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Sandberg acknowledges deep fakes, says will invest in tech and humans to combat. Zeynep Tufekci / @zeynep : Dorsey's own opening statement talked about incentives, and how the business models and incentives on these platforms interact with human/social dynamics. Kinda surprising that there aren't more questions on that: that's the crucial issue. Tony Romm / @tonyromm : Dorsey: “We are looking at things like a transparency report...expanding the transparency report around suspensions of any account. We are still coming up with the details of what this will look like and what it will include.” Could include tweets from suspending accts @jack : But we all have to think a lot bigger, and decades past today. We must ask the question: “what is Twitter incentivizing people to do (or not do), and why?” The answers will lead to tectonic shifts in how Twitter, and our industry, operates. Required changes won't be fast or easy. Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : Good point by former colleagues @lizzadwoskin & @Cat_Zakrzewski: Sheryl Sandberg will be perfect at the Congressional hearing 2-step. Dorsey, maybe not so much. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Roger Cheng / @rogerwcheng : Today's Senate grilling of Facebook and Twitter feature more pointed questions, and a more collegial feel. Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Kamala Harris of California greets “the invisible witness” as in Google. Alex Howard / @digiphile : @marcorubio @BuzzFeedNews @Google I'm guessing @SherylSandberg's use of “alternative facts” as a means to counter false speech (read: imsinformation) on @facebook is going to draw some notice. Wrapping updates in context makes sense, but that's not a well-considered frame. Nicholas Thompson / @nxthompson : Heinrich: “What if a US citizen says victims of a mass shooting are actually actors? Would that violate your standards? And if your answer is no, how should we deal with those very real challenges?” Sandberg: “I find claims like that personally unbelievably upsetting...” Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Twitter is down more than 6% as this hearing continues. Theories from @Selina_y_wang: - The company said it's rethinking some of its business fundamentals - The company said it can't tell difference between humans and bots - There has been some talk of regulation at this hearing Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Dorsey acknowledges that Twitter has to comply with local laws to stay in a country. Social media companies like to push they're global communities; in reality, content is moderated on a per country basis. Zeynep Tufekci / @zeynep : Marco Rubio asked a very good question. It's one thing for Sandberg/Dorsey to come wrapped in “our values” to the US Congressional hearings. But they operate worldwide—billions of people use these sites as public/social sphere. This is a crucial, thorny issue. #techhearings Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Sandberg: We would only operate in a country that fits our values.Rubio: Including China?Sandberg: Including China. Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Rubio says maybe Google is not here because they didn't want to answer questions about a group managing to get Google Ads while using the same info as the .RU IRA Brian Fung / @b_fung : This hearing is already WAY more substantive than the one Mark Zuckerberg showed up to a few months back. Jason Kint / @jason_kint : As Senator Wyden asks about seeing part of Facebook's PWC audit (due to their previous issues and consent decree), know there would be value in seeing 2017 audit regarding what they shared about Cambridge Analytica Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Wyden then asks if Faebook will release its audits of third-party phone manufacturers, including Chinese device makers, to protect user data privacy.Sandberg says she can't commit to releasing those audits because it would help others game the system. Alex Howard / @digiphile : Asked about what @Facebook has done, @SherylSandberg talked being able to see who bought ads, where they're located, being able to see who's running a page.No one asked why such transparency wasn't baked in before 2016, or why FB lobbied against them, or if it supports regs now Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Wyden asks a Y/N question: “My view is, from this point on, beefing up protections and controls on personal privacy must be a national security priority."Sandberg: YesDorsey: Yes Rob Pegoraro / @robpegoraro : Dorsey says Twitter's trust and safety team reports directly to him. He doesn't mention the WSJ report that he overruled it to restore one of white supremacist Richard Spencer's accounts. http://www.wsj.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : Sheryl Sandberg looks, speaks, and acts more like a competent CEO than any of the big tech companies' actual CEOs. Lance Ulanoff / @lanceulanoff : If regulation banned ALL Inauthentic Behavior from social media, there would be exactly ZERO social media. Alex Thompson / @alxthomp : Alex Jones just entered the Big Tech Senate hearing room with @jack and Sandberg. He said outside (to a phalanx of cameras) that he was here to “face his accusers.” Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Sandberg addresses Myanmar: “In case of what's happened in Myanmar it's devastating... [We've] ramped up the ability to review content in Burmese.” Let's not forget per multiple reports that FB had ample warning of what was happening in Myanmar and was incredibly slow to react. Tony Romm / @tonyromm : Sheryl Sandberg is doing FB's usual one-two step: Yes, we support regulation, and we'll work on it, but won't take position on specific ideas or offer alternatives Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Warner to Sandberg: Wouldn't it be useful for users to know how valuable their data is? Can't you put a valuation on a person's information that you gather?Sandberg gives a roundabout answer but basically says, no. Nicholas Thompson / @nxthompson : Warner: People are using your platform to incite violence. Do you believe FB has a moral or legal obligation to take down accounts provoking violence? Sandberg: Yes. Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Twitter wants to figure out how to tell you that you're talking to a bot, if it can tell that you're talking to a bot, says @jack. It's “an idea we have been considering over the past few months... we are going to do something along those lines.” Zeynep Tufekci / @zeynep : Sheryl Sandberg is asked about selling/sharing data. She says “we sell ads”, implying they don't sell data. That's true, but no defense. Facebook sells users' attention to advertisers by profiling them based on extensive surveillance. That's the root problem. #techhearings Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Warner to Dorsey: Do you think users should know if they are being contacted by a human or a bot?Dorsey: It's tricky. Bots can mimic human actors. It's a question of the limitations. We are interested in it, and we are going to do something along those lines. Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : Twitter challenges 8-10 million suspicious accounts a week, says @jack. Add that to the “millions” of fake accounts Facebook takes down *daily.* Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : Both Sandberg & Dorsey point out that tech companies can't stop foreign interference alone and they're increasingly working together. Dorsey: “This is not something we want to compete on.” Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Sandberg, on acting on Iranian info op after tip from FireEye, says that is the system working. Brian Fung / @b_fung : “Privacy and advertising are not at odds,” Sandberg says. “In fact, they go together.” @ceciliakang : Sandberg is going through talking points, pulls out birthday fundraising on Facebook while @Jack is super off script. Remarkable difference. Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Jack says Twitter is removing 200% more accounts and stopping a half a million accounts from logging in every day. Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Sandberg's start is very Sandbergian: giving specific examples of small businesses that thrived on Facebook and people who let each other know they were safe in a natural disaster. It's the whole “Facebook is overall a force for good” argument Mark Warner / @markwarner : It took the pressure that was brought to bear by the Intelligence Committee to get Facebook, Twitter, and Google to uncover the malicious activities of the Russian-backed Internet Research Agency on their platforms. Mark Warner / @markwarner : It would be a serious understatement to say that much has changed in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. campaign. With the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that serious mistakes were made by each of the social media companies - as they were by the entire U.S. government. Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : Pretty sure Dorsey is the first person I've ever seen reading Congressional testimony from his smartphone. 2018! @jack : We weren't expecting any of this when we created Twitter over 12 years ago. We acknowledge the real-world negative consequences of what happened, and we take full responsibility to fix it. We can't do this alone, and that's why this conversation is so important, and why I'm here. Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Jack Dorsey: “I'm someone of very few words, and typically pretty shy, but I recognize the importance of speaking up now.” @jack : First, I wanted to step back and share our view of Twitter's role in the world. We believe many people use Twitter as a digital public square. They gather from all around the world to see what's happening, and have a conversation about what they see. @jack : We're extremely proud of helping to increase the accessibility and velocity of a simple, free and open exchange. We believe people will learn faster by being exposed to a wide range of opinions and ideas, and it helps to make our nation, and the world, feel a little bit smaller. Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : Sandberg says 85% of violent content taken down or labeled is found by algos before it is reported. She tells Senate FB is taking down “millions” of fake accounts a day. Millions. Jessica Guynn / @jguynn : Warner goes hard at companies:Don't your users have a right to know when they are interacting with bots on your platform?Isn't there a public interest in ensuring more anonymized data is available to researchers and academics to help identify potential problems and misuse? ... Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Warner now discussing the future possibilities of information warfare. Namedrops deepfakes, something he's talked about for the last few months. “The era of the wild west in social media is about to end,” he says. @ceciliakang : Senators Burr and Warner blast Google for not attending hearing. Both show some appreciation from Facebook and Twitter for their efforts. But say more needs to be done - with help of Congress Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : And there's a name tag for Google, but not by name. (Sandberg and Dorsey are tagged by name.) So Google is shamed but not Larry Page specifically. pic.twitter.com/edBWsZKp0G See also Mediagazer

Washington Post 2018-09-06