Mark Zuckerberg warns Facebook is locked in ‘arms race’ to stop Presidential election interference by China and Russia – The Sun

MARK Zuckerberg says Facebook is in an “arms race” to stop electoral inference from countries such as Russia and China.

The co-founder of the social network admitted his firm was unprepared for the state-sponsored propaganda which flooded the site in the 2016 US election.

In 2018, Facebook was plunged into a political scandal when the data of 87 million of its users was sold to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg, 36, who is the chairman and CEO of Facebook, says his organisation is now better prepared that any other company, and even some governments, to prevent attempts to influence politics.

He told the BBC: “Countries are going to continue to try and interfere and we are going to see issues like that but we have learnt a lot since 2016 and I feel pretty confident that we are going to be able to protect the integrity of the upcoming election.”

ELECTION MEDDLING

Speaking in front of US Senators in 2018, Zuckerberg said it was “entirely possible” data obtained by Cambridge Analytica could have been used by Russian operators attempting to influence the 2016 race.

He said: "There are people in Russia whose job it is to try to exploit our systems and other internet systems and other systems as well

"So this is an arms race.

"They're going to keep getting better at this, and we need to invest in making sure we keep getting better at this too.”

'ARMS RACE'

He then added that Facebook would have “more than 20,000 people” working on “security and content review” to prevent foreign agents exploiting the site.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warned states earlier this year that Russia could look to interfere in the 2020 elections.

According to a February 3 law enforcement memo obtained by the Associated Press, Moscow could meddle in the vote by covertly advising political candidates and campaigns.

It says that though officials have not previously observed Moscow attempt this action against the US, political strategists working for a business mogul close to Vladimir Putin have been involved in political campaigning in African countries.

The memo underscores how Trump administration officials are continuing to sound alarms about the prospect of future Russian interference even as Donald Trump has sought to downplay the Kremlin's involvement in his 2016 win.

Because it was prepared before the coronavirus outbreak, the memo does not reflect how the pandemic might affect the tactics Russia might use to interfere with the election.

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