Zuckerberg: An ‘arms race’ with Russia
Facebook CEO confident in fight against falsities
WASHINGTON – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a Senate panel Tuesday that the giant social media company is in “an arms race” with Russia and other foreign adversaries who are seeking to exploit the platform to influence U.S. elections.
Zuckerberg said Facebook is getting better at using artificial intelligence to identify fake Facebook accounts that may be trying to interfere in elections and spread misinformation. Russian companies with ties to the Kremlin used fake accounts to try to sow division among U.S. voters in the 2016 election, Facebook has said.
“I have more confidence that we’re going to get this right,” Zuckerberg said in response to a question from Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. He said Facebook was able to identify and remove fake accounts that were trying to interfere in recent elections in France, in Germany and in Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election in December.
However, as Facebook gets better at identifying and removing fake foreign accounts, groups in Russia and other countries are getting better at trying to fool Facebook, Zuckerberg said.
“So this is an arms race,” he said. The 33-year-old CEO also acknowledged that he’s “made a lot of mistakes in running the company” and is working to restore people’s faith in Facebook after recent revelations that the personal data of up to 87 million users was breached.
Zuckerberg made the comments in response to tough questioning from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., who charged that Facebook has a poor record of protecting users’ privacy.
“After more than a decade of promises to do better, why should we trust Facebook on privacy?” Thune asked.
Zuckerberg said the company is learning to be more proactive to make sure that its platform is used for good and not usurped by bad actors. “People will see real differences,” he said.
Zuckerberg’s appearance before Congress on Tuesday was his first ever. He sought to apologize for highprofile privacy breaches at Facebook and convince doubtful lawmakers that he can fix the problem without government intervention.
Zuckerberg is trying to restore public confidence after recent revelations that data from up to 87 million Facebook users was shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm used by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the 2016 election. The information was shared without users’ knowledge.
Zuckerberg faced hours of questioning Tuesday before a joint hearing of 44 senators who make up the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He will return Wednesday morning to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.