A U.S. cyber official on Thursday told lawmakers that election security is a top priority for her agency as it anticipates Russians to interfere in the upcoming midterms.
Meanwhile, Twitter has reported an increase in users and revenue for the first three months of the year in a new quarterly report.
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CISA head anticipates Russian election interference
Jen Easterly, the head of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told lawmakers on Thursday that election security is a top priority for her agency as it anticipates the Russians to try to interfere in the November midterms.
Easterly, who was testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on the agency’s budget request, said midterm election security “is obviously one of our top priorities,” adding CISA was focused on guiding states and localities to combat disinformation campaigns — a tactic the Russians are expected to deploy.
“We are here to help and make sure that all state and local election directors have the resources that they need to ensure the integrity of their election security,” Easterly said.
- Easterly explained that she recently brought on board Kim Wyman, the former secretary of State of Washington, to be her senior election head. Wyman has been traveling across the country, including in Arizona and California, working alongside other elections officials to ensure that they have all the resources they need to secure the election from hacks and disinformation campaigns, Easterly said.
- The CISA director added her agency has created a page on its website called the Rumor Control, which enables them to debunk common disinformation narratives. She said the agency instead sends out accurate information regarding the election, including facts about absentee ballots, so voters “have the information they need to maintain confidence in the integrity of elections.”
Twitter reports bump in users, revenue
Twitter reported an increase in users and revenue for the first three months of the year in a quarterly report released Thursday.
The report may be Twitter’s last as a public company after the board agreed to sell Twitter to Elon Musk for $44 billion earlier this week.
Average daily monetizable active usage was 229 million in the first quarter of the year, up 15.9 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the report.
US SIGNS ONTO GLOBAL FREE INTERNET COMMITMENT
U.S. and more than 55 partner countries signed onto a declaration to foster an open, free, reliable and secure internet, senior Biden administration officials said Thursday.
The Declaration for the Future of the Internet is in part a response to a rising trend of digital authoritarianism, including Russia’s actions to block credible news sites and promote disinformation during and leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, the administration officials said.
The declaration lays out principles to promote a shared vision among the countries while they act within their own jurisdictions and in accordance with their respective laws.
Read more about the declaration.
DOJ WEIGHS IN ON AMAZON SUIT
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is urging a Washington, D.C., superior court to reconsider its decision to dismiss an antitrust case against Amazon brought by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D).
“If left uncorrected, the Court’s ruling could jeopardize the enforcement of antitrust law by improperly raising the bar on plaintiffs challenging anticompetitive contractual restraints in the District of Columbia,” the DOJ attorneys wrote in a Thursday filing in support of Racine’s push for the court to reconsider its March dismissal.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon has used anti-competitive practices by keeping third-party sellers from offering lower prices for products elsewhere.
BITs & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: Public interest technology must be for everyone
Lighter click: don’t miss your chance
Notable links from around the web:
Inside Twitter, Fears Musk Will Return Platform to its Early Troubles (The New York Times / Kate Conger)
Young influencers are being offered cheap procedures in return for promotion. They say it’s coming at a cost. (NBC News / Kat Tenbarge)
Fears are mounting that Ukraine war will spill across borders (The New York Times / David Sanger and Steven Erlanger)
One more thing: Election objectors rake in PAC cash
Corporate PACs affiliated with Fortune 500 companies and their trade groups have donated more than $12 million to Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 election results in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by liberal watchdog group Accountable.US.
First-quarter corporate PAC donations to election objectors totaled $3.1 million, down slightly from the fourth quarter of 2021 but up more than 500 percent from the same period last year.
“Corporations that have failed to align their political spending with their stated values supporting democracy should stop misleading the public about what they value far more — amassing political influence,” Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig said in a statement.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.