Republican accuses Russia of interfering in US energy market
A Republican Congressman is asking leading tech companies for evidence that Russia bankrolled ads opposing hydraulic fracturing, a contentious energy extraction process that has split American politics, The Independent reports.
In letters to Alphabet Inc, Facebook and Twitter, Texas Republican Lamar Smith demanded documents that could illuminate if Russia sought to use “social media to influence the US energy market”, further widening a probe of how Russia used prominent technology platforms to disrupt the 2016 election and sow discord. Among the information he requested was anything “relating to the source of advertisements…advocating for so-called green initiatives”.
“The Committee is concerned that divisive social and political messages conveyed through social media have negatively affected certain energy sectors, which can depress research and development in the fossil-fuel sector and the expanding potential for natural gas”, the letter says.
