The executive's statement largely focused on reiterating what Facebook has done so far, such as removing fake accounts, pulling accounts (real and otherwise) involve in "coordinated inauthentic behavior," stamping out fake news, improving transparency for political ads and encouraging users to vote. The site has similarly taken steps to prevent and mitigate high-profile hacks.

Sandberg also made clear that Facebook blamed itself for letting interference attempts go unchecked in 2016. "We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act," she said.

You'll have to wait until the 5th before senators can grill Sandberg. However, Facebook's stance is clear: it doesn't think tech companies ought to shoulder the anti-meddling burden by themselves. The question is whether or not they'll get that help. When the President has claimed that Russia stopped hacking despite clear evidence to the contrary, Facebook and other tech giants might get only limited US political support.