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Open Hearing on Foreign Influence Operations' Use S. HRG. 115–397 OPEN HEARING ON FOREIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS (THIRD PARTY EXPERT WITNESSES) HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Intelligence ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 30–959 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE [Established by S. Res. 400, 94th Cong., 2d Sess.] RICHARD BURR, North Carolina, Chairman MARK R. WARNER, Virginia, Vice Chairman JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California MARCO RUBIO, Florida RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico ROY BLUNT, Missouri ANGUS KING, Maine JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia TOM COTTON, Arkansas KAMALA HARRIS, California JOHN CORNYN, Texas MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky, Ex Officio CHUCK SCHUMER, New York, Ex Officio JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Ex Officio JACK REED, Rhode Island, Ex Officio CHRIS JOYNER, Staff Director MICHAEL CASEY, Minority Staff Director KELSEY STROUD BAILEY, Chief Clerk (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER CONTENTS AUGUST 1, 2018 OPENING STATEMENTS Burr, Hon. Richard, Chairman, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina ................ 1 Warner, Mark R., Vice Chairman, a U.S. Senator from Virginia ........................ 3 WITNESSES Helmus, Dr. Todd, Senior Behavioral Scientist, The Rand Corporation ............. 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 DiResta, Renee, Director of Research for New Knowledge .................................. 16 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Kelly, John, CEO and Founder of Graphika ......................................................... 25 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 Rosenberger, Laura, Director, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Mar- shall Fund of the United States .......................................................................... 30 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 32 Howard, Philip, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute ................................... 89 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 91 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Responses to Questions for the Record by: Todd Helmus ..................................................................................................... 134 Renee DiResta ................................................................................................... 142 John Kelly ......................................................................................................... 148 Laura Rosenberger ........................................................................................... 150 Philip Howard ................................................................................................... 159 Charts introduced by members .............................................................................. 163 (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER OPEN HEARING ON FOREIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS (THIRD PARTY EXPERT WITNESSES) WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018 U.S. SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:32 a.m. in Room SH–216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard Burr (Chair- man of the Committee) presiding. Present: Senators Burr, Warner, Risch, Collins, Blunt, Lankford, Cotton, Cornyn, Feinstein, Wyden, Heinrich, King, Manchin, and Harris. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BURR, CHAIRMAN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA Chairman BURR. I’d like to call the hearing to order. I’d like to welcome our witnesses today: Dr. Todd Helmus, Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation; Renee DiResta, Di- rector of Research at New Knowledge; John Kelly, CEO and found- er of Graphika; Laura Rosenberger, Director of the Alliance for Se- curing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund; and Dr. Phil Howard, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute. Welcome to all of you. I thank you for being here today and for your willingness to share your expertise and insights with this Committee and, more importantly, with the American people. We’re here to discuss a threat to the Nation that this Committee takes every bit as seriously as terrorism, weapons of mass destruc- tion, espionage and regional instability. Today we’re talking about how social media platforms have enabled foreign influence oper- ations against the United States. Every member of this Committee and the American people un- derstand what an attack on the integrity of our electoral process means. Election interference from abroad represents an intolerable assault on the democratic foundation this republic was built on. The Committee, in a bipartisan fashion, has addressed this issue head on. In May, we released the initial findings of our investiga- tion into Russia’s targeting of election infrastructure during the 2016 election. Today’s hearing is an extension of that effort. But in some ways it highlights something far more sinister, the use of our own rights and freedoms to weaken our country from within. It’s also impor- (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER 2 tant that the American people know that these activities neither began nor ended with the 2016 election. As you can see on the one graph on display to my left, your right, the Kremlin began testing this capability on their domestic population several years ago, be- fore using it against their foes in the Near Abroad and on the United States and Western democracies. Even today, almost two years after the 2016 election, foreign ac- tors continue an aggressive and pervasive influence campaign against the United States of America. Nothing underscores that fact more than yesterday’s announcement by Facebook that they’ve identified over 30 new accounts that are not only causing chaos in the virtual domain, but also creating events on our streets with real Americans unknowingly participating. These cyber actors are using social media platforms to spread disinformation, provoke societal conflict and undermine public faith in democratic institutions. There does not seem to be much debate about that. I think it’s also the case that social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s part of how we exchange ideas, we stay con- nected, it binds us as a community, it gives voice to those that are voiceless. Social media is the modern public forum, and it’s being used to divide us. This was never about elections. It is about the integrity of our society. So how do you keep the good while getting rid of the bad? That’s the fundamental question in front of this Committee and in front of the American people. And it’s a complex problem that inter- twines First Amendment freedoms with corporate responsibility, government regulation and the right of innovators to prosper from their own work. Sixty percent of the U.S. population uses Facebook. A foreign power using the platform to influence how Americans see/think about one another is as much a public policy issue as it is a na- tional security concern. Crafting an elegant policy solution that’s effective but not overly burdensome demands good faith and partnership between social media companies and this Committee. We hope to hear from those innovators in September, because you can’t solve a problem like this by imposing a solution from 3,000 miles away. This requires a thoughtful and informed public policy debate and this Committee is uniquely positioned to foster that debate. Last November, when we first welcomed the social media compa- nies in an open hearing, I stressed then what this debate is and is not about. This isn’t about relitigating the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. This isn’t about who won or who lost. This is about na- tional security. This is about corporate responsibility. And this is about the deliberate and multifaceted manipulation of the Amer- ican people by agents of a foreign hostile government. I thank you again for being here, for the work that you’ve done. Your analytic and technical expertise is indispensable to us getting this right. We cannot possibly formulate the right solution without first knowing the extent of the problem. VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:59 Dec 03, 2018 Jkt 031571 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\30959.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER 3 I’m hopeful this morning that as you offer your insights and your findings, that you’ll also share your recommendations. We can’t af- ford ineffective half-measures, let alone nothing at all. While it’s shocking to think that foreign actors used social net- working and communication
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