You probably used Google, Facebook and/or Twitter in the last 24 hours. These companies executives were recently asked to testify before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. This part of Congress has the job of overseeing the government's intelligence work and programs and one thing it's investigating is how people or organizations in other countries are using social media to influence U.S. politics. The American Intelligence community has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

你可能在过去24个小时使用过谷歌、脸谱网或推特。最近，这些公司的高管被要求在美国参议院情报委员会作证。该国会委员会的职能是监督政府的情报工作和项目，他们正在调查其他国家的公民或组织如何使用社交媒体影响美国政治。美国情报界多次指责俄罗斯试图影响2016美国总统大选。

Russia has repeatedly denied doing it. And last year CNN investigated how people in the small European country of Macedonia used websites to spread fake news, unproven or just made upstories and make a relative fortune from the advertising. Yesterday's hearing on Capital Hill was the third time in 12 months that someone from a major technology company appeared before the Senate Committee. Not everyone who was invited showed up.

俄罗斯也多次否认了这一指控。去年，CNN就欧洲小国马其顿公民如何用网站传播假新闻、未经证实或编造的消息并从广告中获得可观财富进行了调查。昨天在国会山举行的听证会是一家大型科技公司12个月以来第三次在该参议院委员会作证。不过不是所有接到通知者均出席了这场听证会。

Facebook sent it's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Twitter's Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey appeared but Google refused to send a high profile executive.

脸谱网派出首席运营官雪莉•桑德伯格出席。推特则派出了首席执行官杰克•多西，但是谷歌拒绝派高级别高管出席听证会。

It offered it's Senior Vice-President of Global Affairs but Senators said that wasn't senior enough so Google's place only had an empty chair.

谷歌派出的是全球事务高级副总裁肯特•沃克尔，但是参议员认为谷歌派出的人选不够级别，因此谷歌的位置被故意留出了一个空座。

Still, the hearing went on. Sandberg and Dorsey discussed what their companies have done to prevent false information from being spread on Facebook and Twitter to make it clearer where their political ads come from and to say their companies are working more closely together to share information on foreign threats. But they both also regretted that their platforms have been used inappropriately in the past and that they hadn't been prepared, at least at first, to deal with it.

不过听证会依然照常举行。桑德伯格和多西详述了各自公司在阻止虚假信息在脸谱网和推特上传播所做的努力，他们这样做目的是更加明确政治广告的来源，同时两家公司表示他们将在共享外国威胁信息方面加强合作。但是两家公司也表示了遗憾，因为他们的平台过去曾被不当使用，而且他们没有为应对做好准备，至少一开始没有准备好。

You probably used Google, Facebook and/or Twitter in the last 24 hours. These companies executives were recently asked to testify before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. This part of Congress has the job of overseeing the government's intelligence work and programs and one thing it's investigating is how people or organizations in other countries are using social media to influence U.S. politics. The American Intelligence community has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

Russia has repeatedly denied doing it. And last year CNN investigated how people in the small European country of Macedonia used websites to spread fake news, unproven or just made upstories and make a relative fortune from the advertising. Yesterday's hearing on Capital Hill was the third time in 12 months that someone from a major technology company appeared before the Senate Committee. Not everyone who was invited showed up.

Facebook sent it's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Twitter's Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey appeared but Google refused to send a high profile executive.

It offered it's Senior Vice-President of Global Affairs but Senators said that wasn't senior enough so Google's place only had an empty chair.

Still, the hearing went on. Sandberg and Dorsey discussed what their companies have done to prevent false information from being spread on Facebook and Twitter to make it clearer where their political ads come from and to say their companies are working more closely together to share information on foreign threats. But they both also regretted that their platforms have been used inappropriately in the past and that they hadn't been prepared, at least at first, to deal with it.