Democratic Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California are demanding social media platforms establish plans to combat false and misleading content ahead of the November midterm elections. The senators sent a letter Wednesday to more than half a dozen tech executives, pushing for action.
The letter requests written responses by Oct. 15 detailing current election integrity policies and additional actions before the elections.
Recipients include Elon Musk of X, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Adam Mosseri of Instagram, Sundar Pichai of Google, Adam Presser of TikTok, Evan Spiegel of Snap and Neal Mohan of YouTube.
Schiff and Padilla said the companies have "continued to retreat from the responsibility of ensuring that information online is accurate," pointing to steps by X, Meta and YouTube to loosen content moderation rules in recent years.
"Congress has no choice but to carefully scrutinize how social media platforms respond to large-scale election mis- and disinformation, both before and after the 2026 midterm elections," the senators said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom separately signed Senate Bill 73 into law, strengthening the state's election protections. The legislation, sponsored by Senators Sabrina Cervantes and Tom Umberg, addresses threats of election interference and intimidation.
SB 73 makes it a felony to seize ballots, election records or voting technology before an election is certified. Cervantes said the bill is a "direct response to efforts by officials in the Trump Administration and local elected leaders to undermine our democracy piece by piece."
"When the President says he is going to disrupt an election, I believe him," Umberg said, noting that a successful effort to interfere in an election 36 years ago motivated him to run for office.
Newsom said: "California will not allow our elections to be commandeered by political intimidation, abuse of power, or chaotic interference from extremists chasing conspiracy theories." He added that the law protects voters, election workers and the integrity of the democratic process.
Dora Rose, Deputy Director of the League of Women Voters of California, said President Trump and his allies have "continuously threatened to prevent free and fair elections in states across the country," and applauded Newsom for "protecting our ballot boxes from federal attacks."
California has expanded voter access since 2019 through universal mail voting and increased protections against voter intimidation. The state has also strengthened cybersecurity for election infrastructure.
