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Facebook, Twitter Execs Admit Failures, Warn of ‘Overwhelming’ Threat to Elections

Gizmodo: “Openly recognizing their companies’ past failures in rare displays of modesty, Facebook and Twitter executives touted new efforts to combat state-sponsored propaganda across their platforms before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, acknowledging that the task is often “overwhelming” and proving a massive drain on their resources.  Despite frequent and contradictory remarks by President Donald Trump, America’s top national security officials have continued to warn of ongoing foreign influence operations aimed at the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections. Weeks ago, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that U.S. officials had been targeted using traditional tradecraft, and that the bureau had detected criminal efforts to suppress voting and provide illegal campaign contributions. Among other tactics employed by foreign rivals, senior officials at FBI, Homeland Security, and U.S. Cyber Command cited open-ended efforts to spread disinformation on social media, directly targeting U.S. voters, as well as ongoing cyberattacks against the nation’s voting infrastructure. “Our adversaries are trying to undermine our country on a persistent and regular basis,” said Wray, “whether it’s election season or not…”

Link to video and statements from the testimonyhttps://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-hearing-foreign-influence-operations%E2%80%99-use-social-media-platforms

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