On Friday, Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s Head of Product and Instagram Head of Trust, agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in an open hearing as a part of the Russia investigation, per the committee press release.
Mosseri will be joined by Facebook’s Director of Congressional Affairs Debra Wong Yang and Twitter’s Chief Legal Officer, Rizwan Jalaluddin.
On Wednesday, Instagram and Facebook were subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee to testify before a hearing to discuss Russian interference on social media.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will also hold a hearing on Russian election interference. Google and Twitter will be expected to testify as well.
The Washington Post recently reported that the two social media companies were notified by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that they would be subpoenaed to testify.
Follow the Money
People are focused on the tech giants’ involvement in Russian election meddling efforts, but the government’s conduct has also played a role. According to an investigation by two members of Congress, there’s evidence that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia-linked trolls. They wrote a letter to Mueller on December 23rd, saying, “We respectfully request that you probe this situation by whether you consider it pertinent to your investigation and if so, by whom and what criteria.”
Mueller, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI’s New York Field Office, are currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Their investigation, which Mueller was appointed to in May of 2017, is ongoing.
While on the topic of election interference, Twitter’s chief legal officer said during an interview with Business Insider on January 16th that they have looked into a report that Russian actors Twitter have been targeting since at least August 2015. At that time, Twitter said they have no “assurances about the accuracy of the nature and accuracy of the information.
Borges’ Vision
As Instagram’s Head of Product, Mosseri came to prominence after being named in a deep dive by the New York Times, which named him the CEO’s choice for he had a transformative impact in establishing the platform’s “handshake.”
The Times found his influence was as big as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg’s. He oversaw Instagram’s mobile development from the pilot to the initial release, and he even leads the content team responsible for creating original content.
Mosseri has previously spoke at Wired’s Code Conference in 2016, where he was asked about his vision for the app. He said, “The main thing is to be really random. But, I think the app should do something for you.”
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