Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company will work with the German ministry for information security in a broad effort to guide policy here and throughout Europe on election interference. The collaboration will build upon previous work between the social network and the regulator during the 2017 federal elections in Germany, Ms. Sandberg said. The effort is part of continued work by Facebook to strengthen its platform against interference. The Integrity & Security Initiative will be a cooperation between Facebook, the German office and other companies and research partners, Ms. Sandberg said, ahead of European Union parliamentary elections this spring. The German cybersecurity watchdog will spearhead the initiative, a person familiar with the matter said. A spokesman for the German Federal Office for Information Security didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. It wasn’t immediately clear which other companies or researchers may be participating in the initiative.
Ms. Sandberg has come under fire from investors, regulators and users in recent months for a series of management missteps, including criticism of Facebook’s handling of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, though the company’s board of directors affirmed its support for her in a letter in December.
Speaking on Sunday at the DLD Conference on digitization, business, and culture in Munich, Ms. Sandberg emphasized that the company has removed thousands of accounts as it works to prevent election interference.
Full Article: Facebook, Germany to Collaborate Against Election Interference – WSJ.
