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Pressure is mounting on regulators and Silicon Valley companies
to open up the opaque world of online political ads and to
prevent governments from using them to sway elections or attempt
other meddling.
"Social media platforms offer the ability to target millions of
users based upon a wealth of highly detailed information," the
lawmakers wrote in a letter to the election commission.
"As we have seen, the low cost of reaching these users equips
hostile foreign actors with a powerful new tool for disruption
of our democratic process."
Some 20 Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives
signed the letter.
Facebook, the world's largest social network, said this month
that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on
thousands of Facebook ads promoting divisive messages before and
after last year's U.S. presidential election.
Russia has denied meddling in the U.S. election, in which
Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. U.S.
congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are
investigating the allegations.
The Federal Election Commission last week sought public comment
on possible regulatory changes, and the commission is
considering holding a public hearing, with Facebook and other
tech companies as invited witnesses.
Facebook has said it is working with U.S. authorities who are
investigating alleged Russian meddling and also taking steps,
such as removing fake accounts, to prevent manipulation of its
platform.
(Reporting by David Ingram in San Francisco; Editing by Alistair
Bell)
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