SCRAMBLING

Tech Companies Met Intelligence Officials to Plan for Russian Meddling in Midterm Elections

But FBI, DHS officials refused to share specific intel on incoming threats.

Eight of the tech industry’s biggest companies met with U.S. intelligence officials last month to discuss how to counteract Russian meddling in November’s midterm elections. The meeting took place May 23 at Facebook’s headquarters in California and was attended by representatives from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oath, Snap and Twitter, The New York Times reports. The officials met with Christopher Krebs, an undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and an unnamed representative of the FBI’s new “foreign influence” task force. The meeting, which was reportedly initiated by Facebook, was considered a first step to try to ensure that the midterms don’t see a repeat of the Russian interference that overshadowed the 2016 presidential election. However, sources who attended the meetings told the Times that intel officials were reluctant to share information with the tech companies about what kind of threats they should be preparing for.