Two Congress Dems Ask Twitter, Facebook to Censor Russian Bots

Two top congressional Democrats are asking Facebook and Twitter to investigate attempts by Russia-backed accounts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's probe with a hashtag campaign calling for the release of a GOP memo.

A letter from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., asks for the social media platforms' "assistance in our efforts to counter Russia's continuing efforts to manipulate public opinion and undermine American democracy and the rule of law."

#ReleaseTheMemo is a campaign to pressure Republican lawmakers to release a classified memo written by House GOP aides that allegedly describes severe abuses in FBI surveillance, but which Democratic lawmakers say is misleading.

If Russian accounts boosted the campaign, "we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors directly acting to intervene and influence our democratic process," the lawmakers warned.

#ReleaseTheMemo became the top trending hashtag among accounts linked to the Kremlin, according to the lawmakers' letter sent to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey.

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