United States lawmakers questioned representatives of Facebook,Twitter and Google over Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.The U.S. Congress is investigating how Russiaused the companies' internet servicesto spread disinformation during the election.Congress also asked how the companies plannedto stop the misuse of their services in the future.Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolinaspoke to lawyers from the three companies at a hearing on Wednesday.He said media reports suggested that Russian-linkedFacebook advertisements "directly influenced the election's outcome."The reports claim Russian government agentsspent as much as $100,000 on Facebook advertisements."You must do better to protect the American peopleand...all of your users from this kind of manipulation," Burr said.Senator Dianne Feinstein of California argued that social media companiesare responsible for the material placed on their websites.Fienstein expressed anger over the reportsand suggested that lawmakers may take action.She said, "You've created these platforms,and now they are being misused.And you have to be the ones to do something about it – or we will."Facebook, Instagram and Twitter identified some of the materialthat has been connected to Russian agents.Democratic Party members on the House Intelligence Committeeshowed examples of this material during the hearings.The advertisements, videos and tweets covered topicsincluding race, immigration, Islam, and issues of sexual identity.Facebook, Twitter and Google have admitted that agents connected to Russiaused false accounts on their sites throughout 2015 and 2016.They used the accounts and other methods to spread false advertisementsand messages designed to make people angry.Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch told lawmakers last Wednesdaythat Russian-backed posts on his company's site reached millions of Americans.Lawyers for all three companies statedthat they take the problem seriously and are aggressively fighting it.Sean Edgett, a lawyer for Twitter, repeated a statementhe made to the Senate Judiciary Committee one day earlier.He said the company has studied all the posts on its sitefrom September 1 to November 15, 2016.Edgett said Twitter has suspended 2,752 accounts suspected of Russian links.Colin Stretch said that false advertisements"were a very small fraction of the overall content on Facebook.He said, however, that the company was taking measures to improve."We're hiring more ad reviewers,doubling or more our security engineering efforts,putting in place tighter content restrictions," he said.Stretch added that buyers of political adswould have to provide documentation about themselves.A few hours after meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee,the companies' lawyers met with the House Select Committeeon Intelligence to discuss the same issue.Republicans on that committee mainly discussed informationfrom the websites showing when the Russian disinformation efforts began.The information showed that these efforts startedbefore the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate.Senator James Risch of Idaho said,"This is a whole lot broader than simply the 2016 election.Google's lawyer Kent Walker agreed.He said, "The large majority of the material we sawwas socially divisive rather than electoral advocacy."However, some Democrats disagreed.Representative Adam Schiff of California said Russian adstargeted stories about Hillary Clinton's health and legal problems.Some Democrats also accused the technology businessesof being slow to recognize and combat the threat.Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said the big social media companieshave a lot of information about Americans."And the idea that you had no idea that any of thiswas happening strains my credibility," he said.Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are holding yearlonginvestigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.Reports from both are expected at a future date.Members of both parties in the Senatehave introduced legislation to deal with the problem.The bills would require internet-based services to confirmand make public the identities of those buying political advertising.U.S. broadcasters are already required to do that.