US Senate grills Facebook CEO over failure to halt Russian interference on the platform before 2016 election

The inquiry into Russian influence in the last 2016 elections led by special counsel Robert Mueller continued with the US Senate grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook’s day before the Senate was consumed with the fallout from Wednesday’s New York Times story about its slow response to Russian interference, which generated a furor greater than anything the company has seen since the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.

However, the company answered its critics when Zuckerberg was put on the phone with reporters for an extended question-and-answer session, as he moved to shift the conversation to some important moves it is making around content moderation.

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It’s not yet clear whether the moves will cause the outrage to subside — or whether, as happened with Cambridge Analytica, it will metastasize over the coming days and weeks.

Facebook however responded to the Times in a point-by-point rebuttal; the company’s main objection to the Times piece is the suggestion that it sought to downplay or cover up Russian interference on the platform before the election.

Facebook also says no one discouraged its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, from investigating the Russia problem. (It did not dispute the story’s assertion that Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer, had criticized Stamos for going somewhat rogue with his investigation and possibly leaving the company exposed legally.) The board had Zuckerberg’s back, issuing a statement touting the company’s progress in fighting misinformation.

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