Lawmakers say there's still more work to be done after second day of social media testimony on Hill
Lawmakers left frustrated after the second day of testimony from representatives from Twitter, Facebook and Google yielded little results in just how Russian "bad actors" were able to interfere in the 2016 presidential election via their given social media platforms.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman and Vice Chairman, Sens. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and Mark Warner, D-Virginia, both charged the sites to "do more" in investigating just how foreign actors were able to manipulate messaging on social media and how targeted ads were able to disseminate misinformation for so long.
"Your companies are just beginning to come to grips with the scale and the depth of the problem," said Chairman Burr.
He added, "Your actions need to catch up to your responsibilities."
An emotional Warner called out the sites for their "less than sufficient" first appearances before lawmakers in addressing the issue of foreign actors.
He said they showed a "lack of resources, lack of commitment and a lack of genuine effort."
Asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, if all three sites were satisfied with the response their platforms had in tackling foreign interference in the election, all three replied no and acknowledged they must do better.
While much of their testimony remained the same from Tuesday's before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the social media representatives newly admitted that some topics that foreign actors raised on their given sites to enflame or embroil dissension in the country post-2016 election, dealt with questioning the electoral college, organizing election protest events, police shootings, racial issues and immigration.
All three representatives said that while the motive for Russians or bad actors wasn't exactly obvious, it was, as a whole, typically aimed at sowing discord and divisiveness in America.
Facebook's Stretch said that the time period in question with regard to that motive continued well after the election as well.
The same representatives for the tech titans have offered their testimony before members of the House Intelligence Committee as well.
During the afternoon hearing, lawmakers released a trove of Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to disrupt the American political process and whip up tensions around divisive social issues.
Follow along for live updates below.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
House members release targeted ads at hearing
Rep. Mike Conaway and Rep. Adam Schiff presented a variety of ads that Russian foreign actors purchased and posted on Facebook as a means to divide Americans over the course of the election
Many of these ads were posted in an attempt to create fake Facebook events in support of Donald Trump.
One page in question, called "Being Patriotic", even bought an ad touting a "Miners for Trump" rally in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state during the campaign.
Posts also ranged in support of African American activists and Muslim Americans, to staunch supporters of the second amendment and anti-immigration movements.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, submitted one ad that Russians, posing as a Tennessee GOP Facebook group, posted in support of Donald Trump that garnered support from members of the Trump campaign including Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump Jr.
Lawmakers also unveiled thousands of twitter accounts that have been since deactivtated as a result of the ongoing investigation.
Schiff revives Trump's Russia connections at House hearing
Deviating slightly from the topic at hand, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California reignites the indictments brought forward by special counsel against Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos.
He recalls meetings arranged by Kremlin-backed associates with the campaign, including President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., saying the Russian government had repeatedly told the campaign it had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton and offered to help with it.
Schiff says that communication evolved into what the committee is investigating today as Russian-financed ads and posts.
Hearing comes to a close
Senators express frustration and exasperation that today's hearing did not necessarily elicit the information they wanted to hear from the social media representatives.
Warner said that there was still more work to be done, adding it was hard to believe all the disinformation and ads were being circulated from one Russian troll farm, a fact that neither Twitter or Facebook would expand upon.
Burr issued a warning to the sites, saying they are on the front lines of defense for the security of the country's future, urging the representatives: "Don't let nation states disrupt our future."
Race, immigration raised by foreign actors post-election
Social media representatives admitted that some topics that foreign actors raised on their given sites to enflame or embroil dissension in the country post-2016 election dealt with questioning the electoral college, organizing election protest events, police shootings, racial issues and immigration.
Facebook disputes Trump "hoax" claims
Asked by Sen. Matin Heinrich, D-New Mexico if Russian-financed Facebook ads were in fact a hoax as President Trump previously referred to them as, Stretch replied "no."
"All the information we provided to committee did run on Facebook, so, no the existence of those ads were on Facebook and were not a hoax," Stretch added.
Asked if Facebook intends on releasing the ads in question, Stretch said, "we believe this committee is best placed to determine what information to release, but we stand ready to assist in that effort."
Stretch said that Russian spent $100,00 on ads with 46 percent spent before the election, that's compared to both Clinton and Trump campaigns spending a combined $81 million combined before the election on Facebook ads.
Sites "not satisfied" with response to foreign interference
Asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, if all three sites were satisfied with the response their platforms had in tackling foreign interference in the election, all three replied no and that they must do better.
All three described ways in which they are implementing new policies to in fact do better.
Google's Walker said the search engine is creating a transparency report for ads, an archive of content of all ads, icons to make information on site available of who sponsors an ad and enhanced verification measures for advertisements.
With regard to "fake news" Walker said the site has adapted new algorithms to address hoax posts and ads, fake news fact check labels, and are reevaluating their ad policies.
Edgett said Twitter has formed an information quality team focused on behavaior and content to stop bad actors from using automated activity, new transparency rules on all ads to educate users, and are currently collaborating with law enforcement officials to counter misinformation.
Facebook's Stretch reiterated the site's goals in hiring more staff by putting 10,000 people working on safety and security with a goal of the end of 2018 of more than 20,000.
He added the site intends to be more transparent in bringing visibility to advertising and political ads, as well as tightening current ad policies by limiting divisiveness and limiting violence in ad tools.
Social sites on violating terms of service
Twitter's Edgett says that while there is no direct language in the site's' terms of service that would ban posts by foreign or state-sponsored actors, he said the site's inflammatory ad content rule would most likely prompt the site to take down many of those kinds of posts.
Asked by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, if a "bot army" violated the site's terms of service, both Facebook and Twiter said that would violate their use of automated accounts rule.
Feinstein issues stern warning to social sites
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California says she was "profoundly disappointed" by the lack of sufficient answers during Tuesday's testimony provided by the social media representatives.
"We're not going to go away gentlemen and this is a very big deal," Feinstein warned.
She added, "You created these platforms and now they being misused and you have to be the ones to do something about it or we will."
Asked why Google didn't take immediate action regarding RT's "preferred status" on their search engine in light of the intelligence community's assessment in January 2017, Walker said that while the site take's the issue very seriously, they aim to provide a "wide variety of perspectives" online and let Americans "know what they're getting."
He said that the site is looking to expand ways they educate users on the funding of RT, specifically as it relates to the Kremlin.
Social sites say Russia's motive was aimed at "discord"
All three representatives say that while the motive for Russian or bad actors wasn't exactly obvious, it was, as a whole, typically aimed at sowing discord and divisiveness in America.
Facebook's Stretch said that the time period in question with regard to that motive continued even after the election.
Warner says lawmakers claims "blown off" by social media sites
An emotional Warner called out the social media representatives for their "less than sufficient" first appearances before lawmakers in addressing the issue of foreign actors.
He says they showed a "lack of resources, lack of commitment and a lack of genuine effort."
"Your companies know more about Americans than the U.S. government does," claimed Warner, saying that representatives answers that they had "no idea this was happening" was not sufficient.
Asked by Warner if all three sites will commit to continue to work with the Intelligence Committee to provide more documents and information on the issue, all three replied yes.
But when asked if they felt they have sufficiently addressed all cases of Russian activity, they would only say they each continue to investigate the issue.
Twitter on bots
Twitter's Sean Edgett explains the differences between a real account and a bot account on the social media platform.
A bot, he explains, will typically have above normal amounts of log ins a day, upwards of thousands. He says those anomalies help Twitter differentiate normal accounts and bad actors, but bad actors are "getting better at looking more real."
Edgett says Twitter will then shut down those accounts and track any associated accounts with those bots or bad actors.
Burr on election ads
Sen. Burr provides real examples of dueling Facebook events that were organized in Texas that he said was to organized "foment conflict", neither organized event were proved to be formed by real Facebook users.
"We now know why," said Burr, suggesting they were the result of Russian influencers.
Facebook's counsel responded to the example, "It pains us as a company to see that our platform was abused in this way."
Asked the best way to find a user might be from Russia, Stretch says a pattern of characteristics can likely play a part to signaling a bot's or bad actor's location.
"Most obviously that's typically most reliable is location info that transmitted by user's browser" but Stretch says that is almost "easily manipulatable."
Google rep. on election ads
Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker of Google says the search engine will be creating programs to allow users to find any name of any advertiser on its products in an effort to provide more transparency.
They are also already adopting a policy of only allowing U.S. nationals to buy any election advertisements on the search engine's site.
Twitter rep. on work being done at site
Twitter's General Counsel Sean Edgett says the social media platform's first priority was blocking and removing all malicious activity by creating dedicated teams to address the issue head on.
They also launched a retrospective review of the 2016 election where the site uncovered additional Russian-linked accounts.
They also found "advertising by RT and seven small accounts related to the election that violated the policies in effect at the time" and after such, banned all those users and advertisements and donated the revenue to academic research.
Facebook rep. calls interference "reprehensible"
Vice President and General Counsel Colin Stretch says that people should believe content on Facebook is authentic.
Stretch said in aggregate the content on Facebook posted by "bad actors" was small in number but as a whole, violated Facebook's guidelines.
"We know bad actors aren't going to stop their efforts, we'll all have to keep learning and improving to stay ahead, we also know that we can't do this alone," he added.
Warner calls on Trump to acknowledge Russian threat
Warner says that the U.S. government is "incapable" of managing the current problem posed by Russian influence and other foreign actors, pointing to President Trump directly as being "unwilling to acknowledge the threat Russia poses to our democracy."
President trump must stop actively delegitimizing American journalism and address this very real threat posed by Russian propaganda," he added.
He also called on Congress to "do more" saying that the "current law was not built to address these threats."
Burr warns sites to "catch up" to responsibilities
Intel Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina said Americans need fully understand how Russia used information to influence the elections and what the sites are doing to prevent similar acts from happening again.
"Your companies are just beginning to come to grips with the scale and the depth of the problem," said Chairman Burr.
He added, "Your actions need to catch up to your responsibilities."
Warner to press for unity between government, social media
In prepared remarks, Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia says that the fight against foreign actors meddling in future elections will "take all of us - the platform companies, the United States government, and the American people - to deal with this new and evolving threat.
Warner says that Russia's actions have exposed the "dark underbelly of the ecosystem" social media created.
"As such, each of you here today needs to commit more resources to identifying bad actors and, when possible, preventing them from abusing our social media ecosystem," Warner adds.
He will also make the case that Twitter is possibly "vastly under-estimating the number of fake accounts and bots pushing disinformation."