A senior Facebook executive has told a US senate committee that the social media giant has made progress in addressing the issue of meddling by foreign interests in American elections.
However, the company’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also said security efforts to combat such threats are never finished.
She told the senate intelligence committee that Facebook is “more determined” than any adversaries seeking to interfere in American democracy.
Ms Sandberg said Facebook is working with outside experts, law enforcement and government, but acknowledges that the social media giant does not always have the expertise to determine the source of such threats.
Thank you Chairman Burr, Vice Chairman Warner, and the committee, for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Twitter to the American people. I look forward to our conversation about the work we’re doing to help protect the integrity of US elections, and elections around the world.
— jack (@jack) September 5, 2018
She added: “We are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting.”
Ms Sandberg also called the fight an “arms race”, echoing previous comments by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The committee is holding the hearing on what it calls social media “influence operations” ahead of mid-term US elections in November.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will also testify, although there is an empty chair in place for Google’s parent Alphabet, which has refused to send its top executive.
