CNN —Three US senators are pressing Facebook-parent Meta, Google-parent Alphabet and Twitter about whether their layoffs may have hindered the companies’ ability to fight the spread of misinformation ahead of the 2024 elections.
“This is particularly troubling given the emerging use of artificial intelligence to mislead voters,” wrote Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch and Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by CNN.
Since purchasing Twitter in October, Elon Musk has slashed headcount by more than 80%, in some cases eliminating entire teams.
Meta has previously said it would eliminate about 21,000 jobs over two rounds of layoffs, hitting across teams devoted to policy, user experience and well-being, among others.
Tuesday’s letter asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino how each company is preparing for the 2024 elections and for mis- and disinformation surrounding the campaigns.
Persons:
”, Minnesota Democratic Sen, Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Democratic Sen, Peter Welch, Illinois Democratic Sen, Dick Durbin, Elon Musk, headwinds, Peers, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Linda Yaccarino, Ron DeSantis
Organizations:
CNN, Google, Minnesota Democratic, Vermont Democratic, Illinois Democratic, Twitter, Meta, Microsoft, YouTube, Florida Gov
Locations:
Vermont, Florida