Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith said Wednesday that there is a “real and serious” threat from foreign powers trying to influence the 2024 election as November approaches.
“We know the election is between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, but this has also become an election between Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris,” Smith said in opening testimony at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on foreign election interference.
“And this is an election in which Russia, Iran and China are united in their common interest in discrediting our democracy in the eyes of our voters and indeed the world,” he warned.
The hearing came amid growing concern about attempts by powers including Russia, China and Iran to interfere in the election through online disinformation and misinformation campaigns. Smith testified alongside Nick Clegg, Meta's president of international affairs, and Kent Walker, president and chief legal officer of Google-owned Alphabet.
Smith's comments were a reference to a series of alleged attempts by Russia and Iran to interfere with the presidential election between Trump and Harris, and he pointed to a Microsoft report released this week that found Russian influence operations were behind the spread of a video falsely accusing Harris of a hit-and-run.
“Threats to our democracy from abroad are sophisticated and persistent. We must come together as a technology community, as leaders, and as a nation to protect the integrity of our elections,” Smith said.
He outlined two principles he believes tech companies should abide by: the first is “protecting the fundamental right of free expression enshrined in our Constitution” and the second is “protecting American voters from foreign nations that seek to mislead the American people.”
Smith argued that to achieve this, tech companies have an obligation to put in place guardrails, particularly around content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), and to inform candidates about the risks of AI and “protect” them.
“We do that in part by providing them with the technology. This year we've been active in 23 countries. We've held more than 150 training sessions and trained more than 4,700 people. And we do that when incidents occur, by responding immediately in real time, as we do, and collaborating on campaigns to protect them,” he said.
Microsoft's report on the hit-and-run video that went viral targeting Harris follows a string of speculative cases being investigated by the federal government.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice seized more than 30 web domains used by Russia in its covert campaign and charged two RT (formerly Russia Today) employees with partnering with the conservative company Tenet Media to hire various right-wing influencers and lead a covert influence campaign.
The FBI separately said last month that Iran was behind the hacking of the Trump campaign, saying that “Iranian activity has become increasingly aggressive” during the election.
Clegg echoed that view, claiming that Mehta “cares about freedom of expression” but recognised that foreign adversaries were trying to “undermine the democratic process”.
“While we know that every election brings its own challenges and complexities, I am confident that our comprehensive approach will enable us to do our part to protect the integrity of not only this year's U.S. elections, but also around the world at all times,” Clegg said in his testimony.
His testimony came just days after Meta banned Russian state media, including RT, from its social media platform, citing acts of foreign interference.
