Dem lawmaker pushes web domain companies to address Russian influence operations
Sen. Mark Warner targeted web domain companies listed in a DOJ affidavit last month
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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is pushing web domain companies to address Russian influence operations during the 2024 election cycle.
The Democratic lawmaker sent letters to NameCheap, GoDaddy, Cloudflare, NewFold Digital, NameSilo and Verisign Thursday after the online companies were listed in an affidavit from the Department of Justice last month.
The affidavit said federal prosecutors were seizing 32 internet domains that "had been used by the Russian government and Russian government-sponsored actors to engage in foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelgänger.’"
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., leaves the U.S. Capitol for a meeting between Senate Democrats and others in Washington, D.C. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Addressing the web domains Thursday, Warner said information included in the DOJ affidavit supporting the seizure provided "further indication of your industry’s apparent inattention to abuses by foreign actors engaged in covert influence."
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Warner said the web domains should have been more alert to "abuse of its services." He noted that many domains seized by the DOJ included obvious impersonations that should’ve been red flags, like www.washingtonpost.pm, www.fox-news.in and www.fox-news.top, among others.
The Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Given the continued lapses of your industry to address these abuses, I believe Congress may need to evaluate legislative remedies that promote greater diligence across the global domain name ecosystem," Warner said.
"In the interim, your company must take immediate steps to address the continued abuse of your services for foreign covert influence — particularly in the days preceding, and weeks immediately following, Election Day."
FOX Business reached out to each of the web domain companies mentioned by Warner.
GoDaddy told FOX Business it regards election interference as a "threat to democracy" and "takes the abuse of online platforms seriously."
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"We invest significant resources in tools, technologies and people to help address online abuse. We also have a long-standing track record of assisting local, federal and international law enforcement agencies and look forward to continuing to partner with these authorities to combat online criminal activity as it continues to evolve," the company said in a statement to FOX Business.
The GoDaddy logo displayed over binary code. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
A spokesman for NameSilo said the company appreciated Warner’s concerns in tackling election interference, but that it believed "a broader consultation with industry experts could have yielded more comprehensive insights."
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"As a domain registrar, we are fully committed to ICANN compliance, sharing WHOIS data with law enforcement and verified security researchers and addressing abuse through our established internal protocols," the company said.
The remaining web domain companies did not respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.