Big tech explains how it will fight foreign government hacks in US elections

The US intelligence community has found that the Russian government is intent on election interference in the United States. They did it in 2016. They're doing it in 2020. The intelligence also says they want to help President Trump. They did so in 2016. President doesn't like this to be said, but it's a fact. We also know that the Russian strategy this time around is going after Hunter Biden. So I recognize that the details of how to handle misinformation on the Internet are tough, but I think the companies like Twitter and Facebook that took action to not be a part of a suspected Russian election interference operation were doing the right thing. And let me be clear, no one believes these companies represent the law or represent the public. When we say, work the refs, the US government is the referee, the FCC, the Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court are the referees. It's very dangerous for President Trump, Justice Thomas and Republicans in Congress and at the FCC to threaten new federal laws in order to force social media companies to amplify false claims to conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns. And my question to all three of you. Do the Russian government and other foreign nations continue to attempt to use your companies platforms to spread disinformation and influence the 2020 election? Can you briefly describe what you are seeing? Please start Mr Dorsey and then Mr Pichai, Zuckerberg you gave an answer partially on this. I'd like you to expand on that answer. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO] Yes, so we do continue to see interference. We recently disclosed actions we took on both Russia and actions originating out of Iran. We made those disclosures public. We can share those with your team, but this remains as you've heard from others on the panel and as Mark has detailed, one of our highest priorities. And something we wanna make sure that we are focused on limiting as much platform manipulation as possible. [BLANK_AUDIO] Senator, we do continue to see coordinated influence operation atoms. We've been very vigilant. We appreciate the cooperation we get from intelligence agencies and this companies we are sharing information. To give you an example and we publish transparency reports. In June, we identified efforts, one from Iran, group APT35 targeting the Trump Campaign, one from China, group APT31 targeting the Biden campaign. Most of those were phishing attempts. Our spam filters were able to remove most of the emails out from reaching users, but we notified intelligence agencies. And that's an example of the kind of activity we see, and I think it's an area where we would need strong cooperation with government agencies moving forward. Mr Zuckerberg. [BLANK_AUDIO] Senator, like Jack and Sundar, we also see continued attempts by Russia and other countries, especially Iran and China, to run these kind of information operations. We also see an increase in kind of domestic operations around the world. Fortunately, we've been able to build partnerships across the industry. Both of the companies here today and with law enforcement in the intelligence community. To be able to share signals to identify these threats sooner. And along the lines of what you mentioned earlier, one of the threats that the FBI has alerted our companies in the public too was the possibility of a hack and leak operation in the days or weeks leading up to this election. So you have both the public testimony from the FBI and in private meetings, alerts that were given to at least our company. I assume the others as well that suggested that we be on high alert and sensitivity. That if a trove of documents appeared that we should view that with suspicion, that it might be part of a foreign manipulation attempt. So that's what we're seeing, and I'm happy to go into more detail as well, if that's helpful. Thank you very much. And this one's a really simple question. I think a yes or no. Will you continue to push back against this kind of foreign interference even if powerful Republicans threaten to take official action against your companies? Mr. Zuckerberg, why don't we we start with you and work the other way back. Senator, absolutely, this is incredibly important for our democracy and we are committed to doing this work. [BLANK_AUDIO] Senator, absolutely, protecting our civic and Democratic process is fundamental to what we do and we will do everything we can. Yes, and we will continue to work and push back on any manipulation of the platform. Thank you for those answers. Mr Zuckerberg, do Facebook and other social media networks have an obligation to prevent disinformation and malicious actors spreading conspiracy theories, dangerous health disinformation and hate speech. Even if preventing its spread, means less traffic and potentially less advertising revenue for Facebook. [BLANK_AUDIO] Senator, in general, yes, I think that for foreign countries trying to interfere in democracy, I think that that is a relatively clear cut question where I would hope that no one disagree is that we don't want foreign countries or governments trying to interfere in our elections. Whether through disinformation or fake accounts or anything like that. Around health misinformation, and we're in the middle of a pandemic. It's a health emergency. I certainly think that this is a high sensitivity time, so we're treating with extra sensitivity any misinformation that could lead to harm around covid. That would lead people to not get the right treatment, or to not take the right security precautions. We do draw a distinction between harmful misinformation and information that's just wrong. And we take a harder line and more enforcement against harmful misinformation.