Democrats demand more from Facebook and Twitter on #ReleaseTheMemo


Last week, Representative Adam Schiff and Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Facebook and Twitter to investigate whether Russia-linked accounts were involved in spreading the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign. The hashtag refers to a memo written by Republican Representative Devin Nunes that claims the FBI has abused its power. Democrats, however, have maintained that the memo is misleading and largely meant to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into inappropriate interactions between Russian officials and the Trump administration. Both Facebook and Twitter responded to that letter, but neither Congressperson is satisfied with their answers and they've sent another letter reiterating their requests.

Facebook's response to the first letter, just two paragraphs long, basically says it's continuously monitoring its platform for any foreign interference and it will update Congress if anything seems noteable. "We are committed to protecting our platform from bad actors who try to undermine our democracy," Facebook Associate General Counsel Molly Cutler wrote in the company's response. Twitter's response was a bit longer and said that a preliminary analysis didn't turn up much. "Our initial inquiry, based on available data, has not identified any significant activity connected to Russia with respect to Tweets posting original content to this hashtag," says the reply. Twitter also pointed out that verified US accounts had a hand in spreading the hashtag.

But Schiff and Feinstein found those responses to be inadequate. "Although we are encouraged by your companies' continued willingness to work with Congress to raise awareness about potential abuse of your platforms by agents of foreign influence, your replies have raised more questions they have answered," they wrote. The two basically say that neither company did a bang up job looking into any Russian meddling and listed a series of questions they would like answered. "By failing to address whether Russian-tied online accounts on Twitter or Facebook were -- or still are -- amplifying the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign and related messaging, we are no closer to understanding Russia's continuing interference in our democratic affairs," said Schiff and Feinstein.

They reiterated their requests for information regarding which Russian-linked accounts were involved in spreading the hashtag, how often they posted and how many legitimate accounts were exposed to their posts. The letter also demands information on whether either company looked at accounts other than those known to be affiliated with the Russian Internet Research Agency, how they used geographic data in their analyses, whether they only focused on those distributing original content or if they also included accounts that were sharing or retweeting others and whether they looked into accounts interacting with WikiLeaks' post offering $1 million for the memo. Additionally, Schiff and Feinstein pointed to a CNN article that reported hundreds of new Twitter accounts were opened last week and tweeted the hashtag nearly 5,000 times as well as the New York Times article detailing how easy it is to raise an online profile by purchasing followers.

The new letter requests additional responses by February 7th.

Via: Recode

Source: House Intelligence Committee (1), (2), (3)

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2E2V7SV"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more