Facebook general counsel to testify before Congress Nov. 1

FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is seen  at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F in Paris, France on January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is seen at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F in Paris, France on January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's general counsel will testify on Nov. 1 before a U.S. House of Representatives panel investigating possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, the company said on Thursday.

Executives from Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google also were expected to appear at a public hearing before the House intelligence committee, but have not yet said who will represent them.

General counsel Colin Stretch will be the Facebook representative to take testify, company spokesman Andy Stone said. The company's high-profile Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will not appear.

Some U.S. lawmakers, increasingly alarmed over evidence that hackers used the internet to spread fake news and otherwise influence last year's election, have been pushing for more information about social networks.

In the U.S. Senate, Republican John McCain and Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner planned to introduce legislation on Thursday that would impose new disclosure requirements on political ads that run on Facebook and other websites.

The Senate and House intelligence committees are two of the main congressional panels probing allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the U.S. election to boost Republican President Donald Trump's chances of winning, and possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.

Moscow has denied the allegations, and Trump has repeatedly dismissed any accusations of collusion.

(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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