Media Sites That Don't Purge Bots Should Be Fined, Senator Says
Social media giants Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. should be fined if they don’t weed out automated accounts, or bots, trying to influence U.S. public opinion, said Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.
“I think that would be a great idea,” Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday when asked whether the companies should face fines if they fail to act after the government discovers the bots.
The comments come after the Justice Department on Feb. 16 indicted Russians associated with the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization it said “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system” including during the 2016 presidential election. The organization conducted operations on YouTube Inc., a unit of Google Inc., Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, and Twitter, according to the indictment.
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Even though Klobuchar said fining the social media companies is desirable, she was skeptical it would happen. “You need a Congress to act, and there are too many people that are afraid of doing something about this because we know these sites are popular,”’ she said.
Source: Yahoo News
“I think that would be a great idea,” Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday when asked whether the companies should face fines if they fail to act after the government discovers the bots.
The comments come after the Justice Department on Feb. 16 indicted Russians associated with the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization it said “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system” including during the 2016 presidential election. The organization conducted operations on YouTube Inc., a unit of Google Inc., Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, and Twitter, according to the indictment.
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Even though Klobuchar said fining the social media companies is desirable, she was skeptical it would happen. “You need a Congress to act, and there are too many people that are afraid of doing something about this because we know these sites are popular,”’ she said.
Source: Yahoo News
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