Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Oath, Snap and Twitter all met with U.S. intelligence officials at Facebook headquarters last month to discuss the upcoming midterm elections and ways to battle interference from Russia or other foreign governments.
The New York Times reports that representatives from the 8 tech firms took part in the May 23 meeting at Facebook’s Menlo Park campus.
The company officials met with Christopher Krebs, an under secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s newly formed “foreign influence” task force.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the F.B.I. responded to a request for comment.
The meeting was the first to take place between the government and tech firms to address the possibility of a repeat of the online actions during the 2016 presidential election when Russian agents are said to have used social network platforms like Facebook, to spread misinformation in an attempt to influence millions of voters.
Subjects discussed during the meeting haven’t been disclosed. Sources did indicate the tech companies shared details about the disinformation campaigns they have seen on their platforms. However, neither the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security shared information about any threats the services could anticipate.
