GCs Taking the Heat in Congressional Grilling of Social Media Giants

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee berated lawyers for social media giants Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Google for a lethargic response to Russian interference in U.S. politics, as the companies’ lawyers faced a second day of grilling in Congress, reports Bloomberg.

Updating its coverageWednesday morning, Bloomberg reports:

“Your first presentations were less than sufficient,” [Sen.] Mark Warner said at the panel’s hearing Wednesday, saying lawmakers were at first “blown off” by companies that in effect said, “Nothing like this happened. Nothing to see here.”

Warner chided Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch for his “I will have to come back to you on that, sir” reply to a question on cross-checking fake accounts.

“We’ve had this hearing scheduled for months,” Warner of Virginia replied. “I find your answer very, very disappointing.”

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday’s grilling of the companies’ top lawyers: “Senators blast Facebook, Twitter, Google in Russia probe.”

Read the Bloomberg article.