Tech giants face Senate grilling

THE bosses of Facebook, Google and Twitter have been summoned to appear before a US probe investigating President Trump’s links to Russia.

The tech giants are due to be publicly grilled by the Senate Intelligence Committee on November 1, over how Russia used their websites to try and rig the US election.

Facebook admitted earlier this month that it sold about 3,000 political adverts to around 470 fake Russian accounts during 2015 and 2016, as they tried to get President Trump elected. The ads, which are now in the hands of US investigators, focused on divisive issues such as gun control and immigration which helped put him in the White House.

About a quarter of the propaganda notices were directed at particular areas of America, suggesting the Russians were targeting swing states. Facebook has shut the 470 accounts.

Russia has also been blamed for spreading divisive propaganda and fake news stories on Twitter and Google’s YouTube video platform.

The tech giants have not confirmed if they will attend the hearing.