Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers urge Facebook, Twitter to better fight Russian disinformation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of three U.S. senators urged Meta's Facebook, Twitter and Telegram to do a better job of stopping Russian efforts to spread Spanish-language disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.

Senators Bob Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent the letters, dated Wednesday, along with Senators Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, and Bill Cassidy, a Republican.

In particular, the lawmakers asked the companies to better moderate Russia's RT en Espanol and Sputnik Mundo.

"We ... know that disinformation campaigns by Russian state media's Spanish-language outlets targeted at Latin American and Caribbean audiences regularly reach Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, directly harming our national interests," they said in the three letters.

The letters were sent to Telegram Chief Executive Pavel Durov, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO.

Representatives of Facebook and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment while Telegram could not be reached.

A group of 21 U.S. lawmakers sent a similar letter to Facebook in April.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Marguerita Choy)