There is a difference between free speech, and a platform that will suspend a human being, but won't vet to insure that they are real people. It's all about money. I wonder how much Twitter has made in ads, since Trump and his merry band of robber Barron's came to power. And have used twitter to spread false stories, lies, and to bully.
5
I am considering whether to terminate my Twitter account. I don't want to support companies that undermine democracies.
12
Well the mighty tech God's have fallen to earth. Not so smart but greedy . Thank you for the election of trump
3
They fear being regulated, flying their colors proudly under the notion of letting free speech reign supreme. Well, they just got Trump elected using this rubric.
Twitter needs to vet everything they publish as Tweets. Everything. Thus, there will be a delay in its appearing in social discourse. So all of you addicted to instantly giving and receiving in these exchanges, get a grip. Your free ride of instant gratification has to have limits. It's dangerous.
5
And who, exactly, will be doing this vetting? And how will they deal with the volume? I am highly suspect of censorship. The internet is, as of now, free and open, and therein lies its value. And it is these very characteristics that threaten those who would exert control over information. The MSM is a mouthpiece for those in power. What the people have is the internet. When those in power get ahold of that, which they are attempting and will probably succeed at, well, then how do we, the people, find out what is actually happening? I greatly fear censorship. For the record I voted for Hillary, and do not even have a Twitter account.
2
Stay on topic in New Mexico. I am talking singularly about Twitter, not the whole of The Internet. Get it?
Twitter needs to be controlled like utilities, if not, then Twitter should be forced to best down because of the damage it does to the license of freedom of speech. Truly, the detriments of Twitter are greater than any benefits.
2
you would enjoy twitter!
It's not about #RussiaGate, but about everything you would find interesting: medieval manuscripts, climate change, education, politics---all from people you would recognize, all tied to links which give you the world.
2
Corporations have, for decades, run political ads and influenced the political process, often to the severe and immediate detriment of the American people. Yet, we hardly hear a peep out of it. The Russian government (rather than this endlessly, and I think intentionally, vague "the Russians") MAY have run a social media campaign that MAY have influenced the election and all of a sudden Democrats are ready to practically declare war!
I'm sorry, but this issue is being intentionally misrepresented and poorly contextualised.
4
You must be joking, there is a difference between an ad, and a site that gets people to engage each other. Not only that, but it's being used to spread propaganda and social discord, similar to Fox, I won't even use news after Fox.
4
Funny, but I never realized that Twitter was worthy of any consideration at all until I saw the NY Times quoting from it. Nevertheless, I have paid it no attention and will continue to ignore it. I must draw the line somewhere.
4
Good for Senator Mark Warner. Shame on the self-serving Twitter executives for their audacity in an evasive presentation to the Senate and House intelligence committees. Their performance amounts to an arrogant defiance of the American people and our government on a subject of the highest importance.
12
Twitter and Facebook were essential to Trump's Electoral College victory, pushed over the top by tiny numbers of votes in rust belt and nearby states. The tech geniuses running these platforms are now suddenly ignorant of the full assault by illegal Russian sites on Hillary during the last election. Their secret algorithms can figure out statistically where the accounts come from and the voters targeted by their pro-Trump propaganda. The language of the latter is almost identical to certain Republican ads, paid by pro-Trump PACs and the RNC, and often repeated by Trump himself.
5
Knowledge is power, but so is falsifying knowledge. What power does the US have over the Russian government to stop what's already been done? So lawmakers target the service that provides that information, knowing that they can't actually do anything beyond place restrictions on these businesses. Russia is playing all sides here: weakening the validity of politicians, their policies and reminding people more fervently that the democracy you know you've been fooled about is still a lie. What is the real solution then?
3
Facebook and Twitter are corporate hacking devices that profiteer off of everything. Totally amoral. No ethics, just unlimited profits until the public realizes they are nothing more significant than living ad spaces and foolish dupes to universal manipulators.
4
Do you ever wonder why Black Lives Matter is not on the main stream news everyday since Trump got in office? This article explains it. The Russians pushed the Black Lives Matter issue during the election so the MSM would pick it up and force the democrats to defend Black Lives Matter so they would not lose the African American vote, thus turning off the vote of the "white working class" who generally viewed the riots occurring in Furguson, etc. to be outrageous.
6
The Russians are known for being good with computer stuff (see "Flash Boys" by Michael Lewis). They try to impact elections everywhere. The Chinese are also good with this sort of thing. We should have known. Stupid Americans need to pay attention to the sources of what they absorb on the internet. The buck stops right here in the individual user. I think the reason Clinton lost the electoral college vote was because people were sick of the same old. they want decent paying, American jobs here. Trump promised jobs and the voters believed him (because they had seen him being bossy on scripted TV!). Americans need decent jobs and they want their government back from the corporate entities that now own and operate our country. And people, for whatever reasons, just did not trust Hillary. Probably Biden or Bernie would have won. The electoral college was supposed to protect us from this sort of venal person and didn't. We all need to vote in every single election using paper ballots, hand counted. The next big election will be this year and Alabama. Do they allow black people to vote there?
6
200 accounts...200! another nothing burger being made a huge deal by our inept Congress
4
Ignorant and seemingly intelligent Americans have been totally played through social media. Yet, they still can't get enough of it. That is SAD and DANGEROUS. They should try reading a newspaper. The more the current Administration tries to discredit the news media, the more determined it is to be factual in its reporting. Even if the reporting is slanted, one can't ignore the information.
3
Twitter, Facebook and all the rest of the new social media platforms need to stop acting like they are exempt from the basic notion of fair play and the 'Public Good' that has been for years the standard of the more traditional media players. I mean the owners of social media groups need to stop acting like teenagers who have just discovered a new toy that they can simply use to contact other teens for hook-ups and to gossip about others in their neighborhood or high school. They need to grow-up and realize that these devices and platforms are powerful tools and can be misused by criminals and for subterfuge. And if they cannot or will not they need to understand that they are forcing the hand of the federal government to help them rein it all back in (like the European countries have begun to do so).
7
Lets face it social media has been nothing more than a drug for a very unhappy nation, social and economic inequality has taken a major toll since the 80s. The focusing on lowering taxes and greed is good was a destructive movement leading to a morally corrupt GOP.
Now that addictive drug is being used by our adversaries to undermine our democracy and the GOP has lost it patriotic and moral backbone.
Let's face it social media's unrestricted communication capacity is the perfect propaganda tool and has become a threat to the well being of our Country.
4
So long as Twitter makes a lot of money doing what it does, why should it care. Has the Senator from Virginia forgotten what Capitalism is all about? I'm also surprised to read Adam Schiff is still attending to his day job what with all the time he spends in front of the cameras every evening on MSNBC. Talk about a workhorse. Almost as tireless as many NYTimes reporters who every night I see doing the same. Apparently their work rules are different from that of airline pilots and truck drivers, either that or they have ghost writers doing it for them at the paper. The din is all the same either way.
1
Twitter has made a bundle off of Trump's reliance on the platform. To do a thorough investigation voluntarily would expect Twitter to bite the hand that feeds Twitter.
3
I've said this before, it's one thing to create technology that wows everyone but it's more important to be able to manage it before it turns into a Frankenstein.
Both Twitter and Facebook have multiple personalities. They're both impressive and fun to use but can become global Frankensteins. Did their creators consider what happens when human intention begins to use them for evil.
It was too much fun to unleash Facebook's and Twitter's talents on the world not to mention the billions that followed for their creators but what now? Who's paying the price when these Frankensteins turn on us? I don't think we can afford to let FB or Twitter help future Trump-like candidates!
2
It's a sad state of affairs when supposedly educated Americans are willing to believe almost anything that is said by anyone. This all brings back the stench of the early elementary school years, when almost daily some nasty comment about a classmate would be made out of jealousy, in order to tear down someone else so as to raise up the status of the speaker. We now know such gossip never ended at any age, we simply learned to ignore it so that it faded into the background noise of busy lives. Well, maybe not all of us learned...
4
As a preface to my comment I must admit that I don’t use Twitter or Facebook. But for people who access these sites, they need to understand that these internet sites should not be there only source for news and information about the world.
Just because something is posted on a social media site doesn’t mean it is true. I wonder why in this day and age when it is so easy to verify facts that I still need to say this.
Given that Twitter later “found” these fake new sites posted by Russian hackers, why was Twitter not looking earlier for these fake new sites?
For all of the social media obsessed people out there, go read a newspaper once a week. I can highly recommend The NY Times as an alternative news source to the social media sites.
17
Those who pass along nasty gossip see it as being beneficial to their own social standing. It can even be useful in a political contest}:-o Any verifcation of facts would destroy its usefulness. It's one of the earliest things I learned from life experience. One might even suggest that most humans never mature, since we so rarely act our age.
3
Senate trying to pass the buck; they had plenty of CIA investigative conformation of Russia behaving badly. It is not Facebook or Twitter that is at fault but USA cowardice, many still will not say the emperor has no clothes.
4
Here is what I dont undertand: Anybody can write whatever they want on Twitter. How does that count as influencing an election? “While some of the pages and ads praised Donald J. Trump and excoriated Mrs. Clinton, Facebook said that most of the material sought to exacerbate divisions over immigration, race, guns, gay rights and other incendiary issues.“ Ok, thats in poor taste, but actually not illegal in the slightest.
2
This isn't equal to a "couple of people voicing their opinions". What is happening in our country now (and in Europe as well) is completely unprecedented. It is only now feasible by means of new technologies and the leveraging of what's called "big data".
These are highly sophisticated misinformation campaigns that are very specifically targeted with a very specific intent.
It involves a great deal of mathematics, statistics and psychology.
For those that understand, it is a fairly easy task to manipulate just enough of the electorate to move the needle in favor of a desired outcome.
Up until now, the republicans have been using gerrymandering, voter suppression and fox news (and other media outlets) to the same end. But social media has made it possible to do this at a whole new level.
And now a hostile player, and outside entity, has clearly made an attempt to do the same.
For those of you that think this is just speculation, or sour grapes, or some made up excuse (as Dt says) .. you are really missing a big part of the picture and doing your country a grave disservice.
6
Seriously, Joey, all one has to do is watch/listen to the non stop political advertising on TV during campaign season to get all the sophisticated misinformation you need to sway an election of misinformed voters.
1
Likely the mainstream media will be thrilled to discredit Facebook & Twitter, even to shut them down if they could. Who benefits from all this?
3
Do you really think that Twitter gives a hoot about who uses their system. Money, money, money! The Russians pay good money too.
15
Ironic that the anti-regulation party is deflecting blame onto a corporation (after all, corporations are people too); the real tragedy here is twofold:
1.) Word-of-mouth (for that's what social media is) has supplanted the role and veracity of the "free press".
2.) American Citizens aren't sophisticated enough to recognize authenticity and have traded themselves over to confirmation bias.
9
I, too, am tired of stories about the Russians "may" or "appear" to have done to influence American opinion and would greatly appreciate reporting based on solid evidence rather than the unsubstantiated assertions of government officials. Meanwhile, there are plenty of factors in our own history that resulted inDonald Trump's becoming president, and I don't mean the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein. Let's focus on identifying and understanding them.
9
You are tired? The leadership, decision making and security of the United States of America may very well have been compromised by Russia. Why for heaven's sake wouldn't this be the most focused issue, solid evidence is abundant.
1. The President admitted he fired the FBI director because of the Russian investigation.
2. Cabinet members lied to Congress on their contact with Russian operatives.
3. His son, son-in-law, campaign manager met with Russians offering assistance undermining his presidential opponent.
4. The President discusses firing the special investigator
5. The President discusses the use of pardons to protect those associated with him.
The list goes on and on, only a someone that puts their head in the sand can't see a guilty man.
5
Comment readers were regularly flagging Putin trolls for months well before this investigation. The Russian grammar carry overs, the recurring names, the copied texts under many different names, and constant mentions of Soros et al were suspicious. The same has been evident in the healthcare battle. There needs to be clear and verified ownership of Twitter accounts. Facebook needs to allow challenges to fake news spread across its platform.
If credit agencies can sell our profiles via an algorithm then Facebook should be able to spot foreign agents and their fellow travelers.
What's more, The DoJ made public it has been pursuing the organizers of D.C. marches. Why aren't they more interested in Putin's trolls?
32
Doesn't the good Senator from Virginia understand tat billionaires and international companies are above the law. The U.S. Constitution is nothing to Twitter and Facebook, just a relic from the past.
7
What makes anyone think that a company run by layers of white, young, rich guys will be sensitive to speech that harms others? Heck, they probably encouraged the Russians.
11
Wonder what leads these platforms have given Mueller?
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
15
The Twitter and Facebook affairs are scandalous, but typical users aren't adept at evaluating the quality of the submitted materal. That many use Twitter as a news source is hilarious.
It appears from Fandos's and Shane's penetrating article that Twitter execs were blindsided by Russian activities. After all, the Twitter business model allows one to post anything. Any perverse material will be censored by some sort of idealistically envisioned common sense. Twitter is a mess.
The Twitter notion of self-monitoring might have worked, were users more intelligent, but its execs weren't thoughtul enough to understand that the Twitter model rests on a statistical distribution of posts; they needed to understand how many of those were deviant and what damage they could incur. Twitter execs were content to ingnore that analysis in order to create business, including business from a foreign power that is hostile to the goals of the U.S. They'd sell the U.S. down the river for profit.
Devout Twitter users will naively argue, "But the U.S. does the same thing." But *someone* has to defend our democracy. If Twitter posters and Twitter executives aren't going to do it, then *congress* is going to have to put our democracy back onto a secure footing. *Someone* has to be the adult in the room. If there is no adult in the social media room, then Twitter and Facebook kids will destroy it.
35
Twitter and Facebook are private companies. They can investigate or not, and Representative Schiff has no business demanding that they identify fake accounts, whether Russian or anything else. Users of Twitter and Facebook are now on notice that many of the things they read on the services are planted there by foreign agents trying to influence opinion. If users want to let themselves be influenced, that's their right. Intelligent people will probably quit the services, knowing that much of what they read is propaganda, but if many stay, there's nothing the government can do. You can't legislate away stupid.
10
If TV and print ads can be legislated, so can social media ads.
15
But people can and do legislate against it all the time. (You could argue that all laws/enforcement are for the purpose of reduction rather than elimination).
I'm assuming there are companies (military/aerospace) that are by law not permitted to freely do business with identified opponents. Given the evidence and stakes-- how is that not now the same for internet companies?
3
Ms. Pea, I disagree with your position on Rep. Schiff's comment on the dearth of data from Twitter as a "demand" so much as a statement of fact. I also would characterize much of what is posted on social media as pure, unmitigated vapidity rather than propaganda.
3
Am I the only one who has had enough of this whole Russian thing? Hillary lost for a variety of reasons, the main ones being her past positions on issues that hurt middle America. If the Democrats want to win elections they need to step up to the Progressive plate, neoliberal candidates will continue to be rejected. It's not the Russians that cost the Democrats so many elections around the country, it's the Democratic establishment that is tone deaf.
15
Hillary Clinton, a flawed candidate, lost in 2016 for a variety of reasons. All our intelligence agencies indicate that the Russians interfered in our election and continue to subvert our democracy (e.g. stoking hate regarding the NFL-knee bend controversy). The 2016 election was very close, close enough for the Russians to have made the decisive difference. We must not continue to hand the Russians powerful tools of propaganda to be used against our democracy.
10
Bette, it's becoming clear that it's not only the presidential election that was compromised, but many state elections as well. And, it's not just through setting up fake Facebook accounts, but by actually tampering with the voting systems in the states. This "Russian thing" has less and less to do with any individual candidate, regardless of party, and more to do with an out and out takeover of our elections. A foreign government can hack into the voting system of multiple states and alter election outcomes. This is so much bigger than Trump/Clintion that no one is even talking about that element anymore. It's protecting future elections that is on the line, now.
15
sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong. None of this is about HRC losing the election. That in itself is irrelevant.
What is important is that a foreign government, one that is hostile towards ours and our allies, interfered and possibly swayed the most fundamental process by which our country governs itself. That cannot be overstated.
That is tantamount to be attacked.
It shouldn't matter who won, or which "party" you endorse or with which political leaning you identify.
It is a fact. There is no doubt.
Furthermore, it can be argued that any citizen who accepts this intrusion simply because their candidate prevailed, is a traitor.
27