The 2018 midterm elections are few more months ahead and US tech companies are gearing up for this life-changing event. Representatives from biggest tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook have gathered for a private meeting last Friday.
According to Buzz Feed News, the said gathering is for several companies that are sharing tactics to prepare for 2018 midterm elections. Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of cyber security on Facebook, invited employees from 12 companies last week. The list includes Google, Snapchat, and Microsoft, as they gather at Twitter's headquarters located in downtown San Francisco.
It can be recalled that Gleicher had already been dealing with multiple matters regarding the cyber world issues. They want to talk about industry discussions about election protection and information operations, including the work they are all doing to deal with these challenges. And their Friday meet-up is only one of the highly anticipated follow-up events.
With Facebook as the host, they officially posted a statement stating the event's three-part agenda:
1. Each company must present the work they have been doing to counter the information operations.
2. They discussed the difficulties each company is experiencing and of course, possible solutions to resolve it.
3. The meeting also talked about whether such gathering should be a regular event to do.
Meanwhile, the abovementioned source said nine of these companies already met at Facebook last May, including two US government representatives - Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary's Chris Krebs and FBI Foreign Influence Task Force's Mike Burham. The latter was only created in November, moreover, the attendees left the meeting unsatisfied because of the little information they've received from the government.
US Tech Companies as a threat
US Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter were previously condemned because of reacting slowly about foreign intelligence and affiliated operations using their platforms to control social media users. This issue occurred ahead of 2016 elections and led to several threats, along with social media users of the platforms depleting.
Thirteen people have been charged in February by special counsel Robert Mueller's office after confirming they are affiliated with Russia's Internet Research Agency. It is considered as a "troll factory" where people are creating multiple personas on social media platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube. They broke the law just to influence American voters.
Furthermore, the company puts emphasis on the efforts of tech companies to more proactive when it comes to platforms' government use for political agendas. Some tech establishments have confirmed they are to start operations this week where they partnered with other organizations to deal with the issues.
