A group of bipartisan lawmakers said Wednesday that they want to broaden the focus of social media interference attempts against the U.S. beyond just election manipulation efforts.

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, lawmakers said the issue of foreign governments using internet platforms to interfere in U.S. affairs extends beyond any single election.

“We know it was far broader than we originally thought. We know that no single entity ... by itself can effectively stop foreign influence operations on social media,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich Martin Trevor HeinrichSenate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Senate Democrats seek removal of controversial public lands head after nomination withdrawal Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report MORE (D-N.M.)

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Sen. Mark Warner Mark Robert WarnerFBI director casts doubt on concerns over mail-in voting fraud Democrats call for declassifying election threats after briefing by Trump officials It's time to upgrade benefits MORE (D-Va.), the committee's top Democrat, cautioned that political interference would be "small compared to the overall threats.”

Warner, along with Republicans like Sen. John Cornyn John CornynQuinnipiac polls show Trump leading Biden in Texas, deadlocked race in Ohio The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Liberal super PAC launches ads targeting vulnerable GOP senators over SCOTUS fight MORE (R-Texas), pointed to the potential for other countries to try to manipulate U.S. energy and financial markets. The legislators expressed concern that hackers could take advantage of the rapid pace at which information moves on social media in order to spread misinformation.

Experts on the witness panel who testified before lawmakers agreed that the scope of efforts to interfere was much larger than it appeared, emphasizing that much of those efforts were directed at stoking racial tension.

Witnesses, including experts on social media manipulation, Renee DiResta of Data for Democracy and Philip Howard of the University of Oxford, pointed to examples of accounts now known to be fake pushing out derisive racial messages intended to elicit divisions between Americans.

“The majority [of posts] was related to issues of concerns in the black community,” DiResta said.

It had been previously reported the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency used groups like BlackmattersUS and Blacktivists on social media to stir controversy on matters regarding race.

Lawmakers at the hearing called attention to the Honest Ads Act, a measure to regulate digital political ads, as one potential way to address social media manipulation. Committee members, however, refrained from pushing other concrete solutions for addressing the matter.

Still, Committee Chairman Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrHillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Bipartisan representatives demand answers on expired surveillance programs Rep. Mark Walker says he's been contacted about Liberty University vacancy MORE (R-N.C.) said he was confident this could change in the near future.

"I’m optimistic that we're started on that pathway to a solution," he said.