Facebook, Google, Twitter to testify on election security

May 20 (UPI) -- Elections officials and leaders at tech companies Facebook, Google and Twitter are set to testify later this week at a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on election security, lawmakers announced Monday.

The committee said Wednesday's hearing "will examine the security of the nation's election systems, including the government's response to ongoing attempts by malicious actors to interfere in our elections, influence public opinion and undermine U.S. electoral processes."

The hearing also will evaluate the role of state and local governments, and private sector partners like Facebook, Google and Twitter, to protect elections systems, infrastructure and technology.

The tech companies likely will face questions about what they've done in the wake of evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election by using social media platforms.

Witnesses expected to testify at the hearing include Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Department of Homeland Security; Adam Hickey, deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice; Christy McCormick, chairwoman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission; Bill Galvin, Massachusetts secretary of state; Richard Salgado, director of Law Enforcement and Information Security at Google; Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook; and Kevin Kane, public policy manager at Twitter.