Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged tech executives to remain vigilant in the hours and days after the Nov. 5 election, warning that foreign interference and disinformation could come after the polls close.
“The 48 hours after the polls close, particularly if we have as close of an election as we anticipate, can be equally if not more significant in terms of false information,” Warner said.
.@MarkWarner: “My greatest concerns is that the level of disinformation, disinformation from our adversaries that could come after the polls close.” pic.twitter.com/uQkpydzNPp
— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) September 18, 2024
Executives from three Big Tech companies, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet, testified before the panel on Wednesday regarding foreign threats to elections. X, the social media site owned by Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, was absent from the witness table.
Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, testified that the company is prepared to combat foreign adversaries attempting to influence the election.
“We have around 40,000 people working on our overall safety and security, and we have invested more than $20 billion in teams and technology in this area since 2016,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brad Smith, the vice chairman and president of Microsoft, echoed the warnings of Warner.
“There is a potential moment of peril ahead. Today, we are 48 days away from this election. As you said, Chairman Warner, the most perilous moment, I think, will come 48 hours before the election,” Smith said during his testimony.
“That’s the lesson to be learned, from the Slovakian election last fall and other races we have seen,” he added, referring to an incident in which a deepfake, or digitally altered video, of a candidate spread.
Smith also testified on Wednesday morning that his company detected a Russian-linked group that put out a supposed video of Harris generated with artificial intelligence.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Warner asked each tech executive to provide written guidance for how each company intends to safeguard against foreign interference after the election, when votes are in some cases still being counted and states are preparing to certify the results.
“The post-election 48 hours are going to be equally important, and I’d like to hear with specifics what kind of surge capacity each of your institutions are going to have as we get closer,” Warner said.
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The hearing comes as Meta announced it is banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya, and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, alleging the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out influence operations online and amplify Moscow’s propaganda.
The number of foreign influence campaigns identified is higher now than it was before the 2020 or 2022 elections, an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told reporters in early June. The ODNI official also warned about artificial intelligence and deepfakes, both of which have surfaced in elections across the globe.
