Big tech executives from Google, Adobe, Microsoft, and Meta will head to Washington DC next week to testify at a senate intel hearing on election threats, the Axios news outlet first reported on Tuesday.
The Senate Intelligence Committee hearing will take place next Wednesday, September 18th on Capitol Hill, sources told the Arlington, Virginia-based online news site.
The C-suite executives expected to appear before the Committee include Alphabet's global affairs president, Kent Walker; Meta Platform’s global affairs president, Nick Clegg; Microsoft President, Brad Smith; and a representative from Adobe.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is responsible for overseeing, investigating, and analyzing the US government's intelligence activities and programs to ensure they comply with current laws and regulations. The 17-member Committee meets roughly twice a week and is made up of nine Democrats and eight Republicans.
Although most hearings are closed to the public, on May 15th, the Committee held an open hearing titled, “An Update on Foreign Threats to the 2024 Elections.”
Since January, there have been numerous reports about election disinformation campaigns running rampant on social media, mostly originating from Russia, China, and Iran.
Last week, the US Justice Department (DoJ) uncovered a massive Russian-linked election influence campaign responsible for thousands of posts on TikTok, Meta’s Facebook, Elon Musk’s X, and the video platform Rumble.
Even after the DoJ reported the campaign to the corresponding social media platforms, hundreds of posts still remained on the sites days later.
In August, the Microsoft-backed OpenAI reported finding and removing multiple Iranian ChatGPT accounts using the AI chatbot to generate false content about US elections and other world events.
Furthermore, a Microsoft report in April revealed the Chinese government was taking part in targeting US voters through social media. The Chinese influence operations were found using AI technologies to create and manipulate images, memes, and videos posted about the November elections.
It's not clear if C-suite execs from Apple or X will also be at the hearing.
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