Top Silicon Valley Company Executives To Meet On Friday To Discuss 2018 Election Strategies

Executives of some of the top tech U.S. companies including Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, have reportedly scheduled a private meeting on Friday to discuss the industry’s strategies for the upcoming midterm elections.

According to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, has invited officials from tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Snapchat for a meeting to be held at Twitter’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco. As per the report, the tech company executives will present their company’s strategies to counter information manipulation during the midterm elections. This is being done to ensure that their businesses are not used to influence US voters during the elections.

BuzzFeed reported that the meeting would include presentations from each company on what they’re doing to counter information operations, a discussion about the problems they face and a talk about whether such a meeting should be conducted at regular intervals.

Notably, it’s not the first time that such a meeting has been conducted. Back in May, nine of the companies met at Facebook headquarters with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to discuss similar problems.

The meeting follows Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google’s recent actions to counter phishing and misinformation. While Facebook and Twitter took down hundreds of users and accounts engaged in coordinated manipulation, linked with Iran and Russia, Microsoft has announced a Defending Democracy program to offer protections to candidates and related organizations. Google has also removed 58 accounts believed to be tied to Iran’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

Tech companies including Facebook and Twitter had to face scrutiny after it was found that foreign intelligence and affiliated operations used their platforms to spread misinformation during the 2016 presidential election, particularly the Russian entities. The intense investigation led to drops in user confidence and a threat of regulation from lawmakers.