Oklahoma – “We cannot continue to play catch up as foreign agents and extremists abuse American social media platforms to spread hate, fuel antisemitism, and sow discord on American soil and across the globe,” Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said as he pressed Meta to take additional steps to identify foreign-based influence networks operating on Facebook and Instagram.
Lankford made the comments Sept. 29 after he and Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., sent a bipartisan letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding information about the company’s safeguards against fake accounts and bot networks spreading antisemitic content across its platforms. The two senators serve as co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.
The senators specifically asked Meta about what it is doing to prevent inauthentic accounts and “bot farm” operations from being used to develop and distribute antisemitic content on Facebook and Instagram. They also urged the company to strengthen its transparency measures and consider labeling accounts with their country of origin.
Lankford said identifying where social media accounts originate could help users recognize foreign-based influence networks and distinguish between accounts operated by Americans and those controlled from outside the United States.
“We need collaboration with our social media companies to bring our digital space to a higher level of transparency and integrity,” Lankford said. “Labeling Facebook and Instagram accounts with their country of origin would be an impactful step toward combatting foreign-based influence networks.”
Jewish Insider reported that the senators’ letter came after concerns about antisemitic bot accounts operating on Meta’s platforms. The outlet reported that Lankford and Rosen were pressing Zuckerberg over what they described as failures to adequately address networks of automated or inauthentic accounts spreading antisemitic material.
The senators asked Meta six questions about its current efforts to detect and remove such accounts and about how the company measures antisemitic content. They also questioned why Meta’s existing transparency reports do not appear to track antisemitism as a separate category within its broader reporting on hateful conduct.
Lankford and Rosen said foreign actors can use networks of fake accounts to amplify antisemitic narratives and potentially encourage violence against Jewish Americans. Their letter cited research involving inauthentic social media accounts and foreign-linked networks as part of the reason they are seeking additional safeguards.
The lawmakers’ request comes amid broader concerns over foreign influence operations and coordinated inauthentic behavior on major social media platforms. Meta has previously acknowledged removing networks of fake accounts linked to foreign interference operations. The company has said such networks can use fake personas, pages and groups to make coordinated activity appear to come from ordinary users in the countries being targeted.
More recently, Meta disrupted an Iran-linked operation on Facebook and Instagram that used artificial intelligence and accounts posing as ordinary Americans to target U.S. audiences, according to Axios. The operation included accounts that posted about American politics, immigration and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
JNS reported that Lankford and Rosen’s proposal to label accounts by country of origin was modeled in part on steps taken by Meta’s competitors to provide users with additional information about where accounts are operated. The senators argued that such information could make it more difficult for foreign influence networks to present themselves as domestic voices.
The issue also has a direct connection to Lankford’s previous work on social media and national security. In 2022, he questioned executives from major technology companies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing about foreign interference, user-data practices and other concerns involving social media platforms.
Lankford and Rosen are also pursuing broader federal legislation aimed at combating antisemitism. Their latest request to Meta follows their introduction of legislation intended to strengthen federal efforts to address antisemitism, including activity occurring online.
The senators’ letter does not accuse Meta of creating the antisemitic content at issue. Instead, it asks the company to provide information about how its systems identify fake accounts, detect coordinated networks and enforce its existing policies against abuse.
For Lankford, greater transparency about the origins of accounts is one potential way to make foreign influence efforts easier for American users to identify. He argued that social media companies need to work with lawmakers and other stakeholders to strengthen the integrity of online spaces as foreign actors continue attempting to exploit major platforms.
Sen. Lankford joins Nevada Sen. Rosen in demanding action from tech giant, says foreign agents and extremists are abusing Facebook and Instagram to ‘spread hate, fuel antisemitism, and sow discord’
