Facebook appears to be making an effort to be in the right direction where election security is involved, as Americans want to have transparency behind the advertisements that are seen, Rep. French Hill, who was part of Wednesday's hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said Thursday.
"I think Congress has appropriated money for election security," the Arkansas Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I think that's likely, as we go through the spending process this fall, we may get more money for our states to make sure they boost their election security."
At the same time, free speech must be protected, but Americans want to know who is behind an advertisement and that they can make up their own minds about what they see, said Hill.
"They have a new rating system on their ads and you can see certified (notices) when you see an ad appear on your Facebook feed, so I would say they're making an effort to be in the right direction, to be more transparent," Hill said. "But are they?"
Zuckerberg appeared before the House Financial Services Committee to discuss Facebook's push on Libra, its proposed cryptocurrency, and, Hill said he made a commitment that Facebook wouldn't participate in the system without the full regulatory approval of the United States and that he wouldn't implement it anywhere until then.
Zuckerberg's appearance made news after New York freshman Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled him on fact-checking political advertising, and Hill said Republicans also asked him about that.
He added that he does not think anyone in Congress wants to block innovation, including on social media companies, but it's still important that they are clear on transparency and oversight, as well as how their plans fit in with U.S. businesses, society, and regulatory structure.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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