Twitter's Russia presentation

Warner blasts Twitter's Russia presentation

Twitter's briefing to intelligence staffers was 'inadequate on every level,' the senator said.

By ASHLEY GOLD and NANCY SCOLA

Twitter's presentation Thursday to Senate staffers about possible Russian election interference brought a caustic reaction from top Intelligence Committee Democrat Mark Warner, who called it "deeply disappointing" and "inadequate on every level."

The Virginia senator said he was especially disappointed that much of Twitter's findings were based on user accounts that Facebook had already flagged as problematic and shared with congressional staff. That showed "an enormous lack of understanding" from Twitter on how serious the Russia issue is and the "threat it poses to democratic institutions," Warner said.

Warner's comments came after Twitter gave a pair of closed-door briefings Thursday to House and Senate intelligence committee staff, who are looking for ways Russia may have used social media to try to influence the outcome of last year's U.S. presidential election. Facebook has also shared information with congressional investigators. The reception to Twitter's presentation underscores what's at stake for it and other tech companies as the Russia investigation intensifies.

Twitter also disclosed that the Kremlin-funded English-language media network RT, formerly known as Russia Today, paid for $274,100 of ads on its platform in 2016.

"This is an ongoing process and we will continue to collaborate with investigators," Twitter said in a post by its public policy team.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with the [Federal Election Commission] and leaders in Congress to review and strengthen guidelines for political advertising on social media," Twitter added. The commission is looking at what it should do to prevent people from countries like Russia from placing political ads in the United States. Warner and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are trying to rally support for a bill that would require disclosures for social media political ads, similar to the disclosures required for broadcast political advertising.

Warner said the presentation to the Senate staff, which included Colin Crowell, Twitter's vice president for public policy, made the need for a public hearing even more clear. And the senator said meddling into U.S. democracy via social media has gone far beyond the 2016 election.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has invited Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify at a Nov. 1 hearing on this topic. The companies haven't said whether they'll attend or whom they would send to testify. The House Intelligence Committee also plans a hearing but hasn't set a date.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, shared Warner's concerns about Twitter's presentation being partly a rehash of what Facebook had already dug up, saying the onus is on the company to further investigate.

"It is clear that Twitter has significant forensic work to do to understand the depth and breadth of Russian activity during the campaign," Schiff said in an emailed statement after Twitter's briefing. "This additional analysis will require a far more robust investigation into how Russian actors used their platform as a part of their active measures campaign and whether any of the targeting on Twitter suggests the possibility of assistance or collusion with any U.S. persons."

While Twitter said the RT ads were targeted at an American audience, it did not specify whether they were explicitly election-oriented or involved other political or social issues. The company said it suspended about 200 problematic accounts it identified as part of its internal investigation into election meddling.

RT defended its ad buy, saying it has purchased ads in many places besides Twitter.

"Somehow it did not cross our mind that in a developed democracy, regular media advertising can be considered suspicious or detrimental activity," RT editor in chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement.

Warner said Twitter's "actions have not matched their words in terms of grasping the seriousness of the threat." He did not rule out subpoenaing Twitter for more information.

"I'm more than a bit surprised, in light of all the public interest from the subject, that anyone from the Twitter team would think that the presentation made to Senate staff today even began to answer the kinds of questions that we'd asked," he told reporters after the staff briefing. "So there's a lot more work they have to do."