Recently, I sat in a crowded committee room on Capitol Hill and asked the witness before me a simple question: “Congress has released a trove of political ads on Facebook bought by agents acting on behalf of foreign governments. Some of those ads were even paid for in Russian rubles, is that correct?”
The answer from Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, was, “Congressman, that is correct.”
While we deal in nuance frequently in public policy, on this there is no doubt: Our adversaries have found a way to interfere in our elections by discouraging, dividing, and disinforming the American electorate. A unanimous report from our nation’s intelligence community, the findings of Independent Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence panel, and now the testimony of the CEO of one of the world’s most influential communication platforms have made that abundantly clear.
View the complete November 4 commentary by Rep. Phillips on The Star Tribune website here.