The Latest: Senator scolds Google for skipping hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on executives from social media companies and their appearances before Congress (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

Goggle is skipping a Senate intelligence hearing on social media companies, and a lawmaker says it’s “maybe because they’re arrogant.”

Sen. Marco Rubio is also citing questions raised in a new report by a watchdog group that had success buying ads while posing as Russia’s Internet Research Agency. That’s the propaganda machine accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.

The watchdog group used the Russia’s agency tax ID, bought ads in rubles and pointed to IRA-affiliated websites, and the report said Google approved the ads as soon as within 24 hours.

Rubio says he’s sure that Google executives “don’t want to be here to answer these questions.”

Google offered to send its chief legal officer, but the committee issued specific invitations to Larry Page, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, and to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

___

10:45 a.m.

Facebook and Twitter executives say they agree with Congress that strengthening privacy protections for their users is a “national security priority.”

Critics have charged that the companies’ business models, which are built on offering a free service and making money from advertising targeted using personal data, can conflict with efforts to oppose those who would abuse their systems.

The Senate intelligence committee is holding a hearing on social media and elections.

Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden says personal data is now the “weapon of choice” of political influence campaigns.

___

10:40 a.m.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has told Congress that Twitter has created better tools and stronger policies for combating election interference. He says Twitter has learned from the 2016 elections and from other elections around the world.

But he also tells the Senate intelligence committee that “we all have to think a lot bigger, and decades past today.”

The committee is holding a hearing on social media and elections.

___

10:35 a.m.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has made a surprise appearance outside the Senate intelligence committee’s hearing with Facebook and Twitter executives, and he tells reporters that he’s there to “face my accusers.”

The Infowars host was temporarily suspended from Twitter and Facebook last month. He says the “real election meddling” is the silencing of conservatives on social media.

The companies deny that’s happening.

___

10:05 a.m.

Facebook’s No. 2 executive has told a Senate committee that Facebook has made progress in addressing the issue of meddling by foreign interests in U.S. elections. But Sheryl Sandberg also says security efforts to combat such threats are never finished.

She tells the Senate intelligence committee that Facebook is “more determined” than adversaries seeking to interfere in American democracy. Sandberg says Facebook is working with outside experts, law enforcement and government, and she acknowledges that Facebook doesn’t always have the expertise to determine the source of such threats.

Sandberg says “we are more determined than our opponents and we will keep fighting.” She calls the fight an “arms race,” as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has in the past.

___

9:58 a.m.

The Senate intelligence committee is holding a hearing on what it calls social media “influence operations” as the November elections near.

And while executives from Facebook and Twitter are testifying, there’s an empty chair in place for Google’s parent Alphabet, which has refused to send its top executive.

And committee leaders aren’t happy about that.

The committee chairman — Sen. Richard Burr — is praising the companies for what they’ve done so far. But the North Carolina Republican says threats from countries beyond Russia aren’t going away.

He notes that an outside security company had a large role in identifying the most recent threat the companies have disclosed. This was an attempt by Iran to meddle with politics using social media.

___

12:15 a.m.

Representatives from two leading social media companies are defending their efforts to crack down on foreign attempts at online meddling during this U.S. election year.

Twitter’s CEO and Facebook’s No. 2 executive are appearing before the Senate’s intelligence committee to discuss foreign interference.

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg says in prepared remarks that Facebook is addressing the problem but remains slow in spotting it. Sandberg says Facebook’s overall understanding of Russian activity in 2016 is limited because it doesn’t have access to the U.S. government’s information or investigative tools.

In a separate hearing before a House committee, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is expected to hear from Republicans who claim Twitter shows evidence of bias against conservatives. Dorsey says in his prepared remarks that Twitter doesn’t use political ideology to make decisions.