Facebook Sold Ads To Russian-Linked Accounts During Election (cnet.com)

Facebook announced on Wednesday that it sold $100,000 worth of ads to inauthentic accounts likely linked to Russia during the election. The ad spending spree took place between June of 2015 and May of 2017, and was associated with roughly 3,000 ads. CNET reports: "Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia," Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief security officer, wrote in a blog post. Facebook said it's continuing to investigate the issue and reported its findings to U.S. authorities.

Most of the ads and accounts didn't have to explicitly do with the election or either of the then-candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Instead, they were focused on divisive political topics, including LGBT issues, immigration and gun rights.

Comments

Re:$100k ? is that a lot?

[hyades1]

What are you missing? Among other things, this:

One hundred thousand dollars in ad spending might not sound like a lot of money, but it is a big deal for at least five reasons.

First, it confirms that Facebook was one of the pathways by which Russian operatives sought to influence the U.S. election.

Second, it raises the question of how those Russian operatives knew which U.S. voters to target, and whether the Trump campaign might have played any role.

Third, it casts a new light on Facebook's "fake news" problem, which looks more sinister if some of the misinformation spread on the platform in the run-up to the U.S. election was fueled by Russian-funded ad dollars or troll networks.

Fourth, it suggests that Facebook may have a more widespread oversight problem in its ad sales. As the Post's story notes, it is illegal for foreign nationals or governments to buy ads or spend money aimed at influencing a U.S. election. It now seems clear they have been using Facebook to do just that.

Finally, while $100,000 amounts to a miniscule fraction of U.S. election spending, it could go a long way in amplifying posts among a targeted audience. Facebook said only about 25 percent of the ads were geographically targeted. But it's worth remembering that the company has a history of not being forthcoming when it comes to the scale and mechanisms of misinformation on its platform. It's possible that the activities the company has uncovered and disclosed so far represent only a small part of a larger problem.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/09/06/why_russian_operatives_buying_american_political_ads_on_facebook_is_such.html

Fuck off with this nonsense

[Anonymous Coward]

Obama literally threatened Brits about which way to vote, and now the Americans are making a fuss over Russia posting some ads to try to change peoples mind.