Democratic leaders of the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee formally called for a congressional review of election security on Wednesday for the third time since January.
In a letter to U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the committee, U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), the ranking member of the committee, and Donald Beyer Jr. (D-VA), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, issued a third formal request for a congressional review. The lawmakers cited revelations that Cambridge Analytica gained unauthorized access to 50 million Facebook users’ data during the 2016 election cycle.
“We previously requested that (Smith) hold hearings on cyberattacks against our election infrastructure by the Russian government during the 2016 U.S. elections and the tactics used by them to influence the American public through social media,” the letter stated. “In light of recent news that British-based Cambridge Analytica acquired the private data of 50 million Facebook users for political purposes, we are now also requesting a hearing specifically on the unauthorized use of this private data, and the role that it may have played in our 2016 election cycle.”
Bernice Johnson and Beyer added that the acquisition and misuse of data on the online behavior of Americans “poses a potential serious threat to their privacy rights and even to our democracy.” They noted the importance of ensuring that individual privacy is protected and not “misused by digital political influence campaigns” without their knowledge.
“Protecting personally identifiable information in the digital age is an immense task and a tremendous burden on both government agencies and commercial enterprises,” the letter stated. “Nevertheless, the U.S. Congress must hold both government agencies and commercial entities accountable when the public trust is breached. The Science Committee should take a leading role in investigating these sorts of cases whether the intended use of the data is for financial, political or other purposes.”