Twitter execs talk to House, Senate in Russia probe

Executives of the social media giant Twitter spoke with House and Senate investigators Thursday at the Capitol about Russian interference in the 2016 elections and anonymous “bots” that can spread misinformation.

Twitter executives visited both the Senate and House intelligence committees, briefing staff members in closed-door meetings.

The meetings come after similar briefings from Facebook earlier this month. The House and Senate panels have invited both tech giants, along with Google, to appear at public hearings this fall.

The committees are scrutinizing the spread of false news stories and propaganda on social media, to what extent Russia was involved and whether anyone in the United States helped target those stories.

Unlike Facebook, which has said phony accounts on its platform attempted to stir up divisiveness, Twitter has remained mostly silent.