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Facebook Will Share Copies of Political Ads Purchased by Russian Sources With the US Congress (recode.net)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Facebook will turn over copies of political ads purchased by Russian sources to congressional lawmakers, who are investigating the country's potential interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Initially, Facebook had only released those ads -- 3,000 of them, valued at about $100,000 -- to Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is spearheading the government's probe into Russia's actions. Facebook had withheld those details from House and Senate leaders, citing privacy concerns. But the move drew sharp rebukes from the likes of Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has charged in recent days that Facebook may not have done enough to scan its systems for potential Russian influence and to ensure that such foreign purchases -- otherwise illegal under U.S. law -- don't happen again. "After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators," wrote Colin Stretch, the company's general counsel. "We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election."
Is the most trustworthy person. I am sure he would never do anything underhanded.
If it was a beam of microwave radiation as many others here are guessing, then there may also be evidence of damaged electronics in the beam's path.
The power levels required to cause physical injury are definitely detectable with very simple circuitry (RF diode in series with an LED, and a very short antenna), so these people could carry one on their person to determine if it is directed RF, if it happens again.
Didn't the Obama administration do something similar to the Israelis?
How come I never heard any kind of investigation? And by the way, it was to the legitimate government of a sovereign state. An ally of ours if I may add.
Good: can we investigate continued collusion with foreign bodies on the left?
e.g. Iran, North Korea, China, Russia
Can we also investigate e.g. antifa?
Can we also investigate left-leaning media outlets like CNN promoting stories originating from Russia Today etc?
...and we'll probably let you run things for a while again.
- The American People
</story title="US President Election 2016">
What they need to do is inform users who "liked" or shared anything that was Russian propaganda.
media matters and david brock spent 1,000,000$ correcting the record on social media in a feeble attempt to sway perception of Hillary. does anyone believe a 50k ad buy or 100k made a difference if its true?
Mostly because the accusations against Hillary turned out to be bullshit as the investigation showed.
Are you condemning FB for behavior that exists only in your speculation?
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Mostly because the accusations against Hillary turned out to be bullshit as the investigation showed.
Which ones? The ones where the FBI plainly spelled out the illegal things she did and directly told you that anyone else would have faced legal jeopardy for the same acts? The ones where all of her staff had to be offered immunity deals before they would even talk about it? The ones where the simply broke federal law at numerous levels and looked you in the eye and lied about (and still does to this day), but assures us that her husband's private meeting with the chief law enforcement officer who would be tasked with indicting her, and who then had to recuse herself, didn't have any impact at all? Gotcha.
You're confusing "got away with it" with "didn't do it."
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Even though one senator, Claire McCaskill (D) Missouri, had several meetings with Russians, dinners and what not. Hey, BOTH political parties are two sides of the SAME COIN. They protect each other. If you don't play the game, they will do whatever it takes, to make sure you are on the outside looking in! Explain why, a congress/senator can go to DC, maintain a home in their "home" state (which they never visit), have a house in one of the most expensive areas of the nation, on a salary that pays less than $200,000.00 per year and in a few short years, they are on the millionaires list! Their salary is "chump change" compared to what they get from fund raising, kickbacks, bribes and what not.
So the Facebook report states that $100,000 worth of ads were bought over a 2 year period from accounts suspected to have been operated from Russia. Also these ads were:
- without specific geographic targeting (only 25% we so targeted)
- without targeting specific candidates
- vaguely meant to spread division in the society (what does that even mean?)
Somehow this got blown into "Russia was subverting democracy in the US". It's OK for Sheldon Adelson, Koch brothers and such to throw millions in on their PACs and hold auditions for GOP candidates, that's just free speech, no subversion of democracy there. But here we have the flimsiest of evidences that somebody (could have been from anywhere, even US) paid somebody from Russia $100,000 to do some vague anti-LGBT, racist, anti-immigration campaign not specifically targeted at any candidate or Americans, suddenly this requires a massive investigation. Has everybody lost their minds?
Hillary and her supporters spent an estimated $1.2 Billion, roughly twice what Trump spent. And she lost. And she blames the Ruskies for her loss. Seriously?
Facebook hasn't been forthcoming. They were forced to do this via court order.
All of this comes months after Mark Zuckerberg claimed it was "ridiculous" that Facebook had any affect on the election.
In an alternate reality where Hillary won, Trump is still actively contesting the election results, claiming the vote was rigged and that Hillary is illegitimate, and there are plenty of House Republicans happy to lead largely baseless "Bengazhi" type investigations into it.
and any real patriotic American supports getting to the bottom of it.
Nobody but you is confused, most of us are not so,incredibly stupid as to believe any of the disgusting lies of the scared little weenie mysogynist RWNJ scum/
You DO inherently mind otherwise you wouldn't have bothered posting. What you're pissed about is your man is about to be thrown the fuck out of the whitehouse and possibly right into jail. Your feigned outrage is so cute.
MUH RUSSIAN ADS /. gets 1/20th of comments that it used to. Everyone abandoned it. Especially after it was purchased by some libtard idiot who constantly shitposts about MUH HILLARY and MUH RUSSIANS.
That's all that this shithole of a website is now. No wonder
Err what?
The investigation showed 110 classified emails on her personal computer. It literally was a federal felony offense.
Actually, no: it was not literally a felony offense. It would have been a felony to disclose classified material to unauthorized people, and it would be a felony to mishandle classified material in such a negligent way that they are disclosed to unauthorized persons (the specific words in the law is "through gross negligence"), but it's not a felony for classified e-mail to on her server per se-- the prosecutor would have had to show either intent, or show that unauthorized people could reasonably be believed to have had access to the classified mail on her server because of her negligence.
That's a hard case to make, and what Comey said was that he did not think that a reasonable prosecutor could reasonably make that case.
(Precisely what he said is here: http://www.latimes.com/politic... )
--interestingly, the government servers did get hacked (presumably by the Chinese), but there's no evidence that her personal server ever was. So she could have made the opposite case-- her emails actually turned out to be safer on her personal server.
How is that constitutional?
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press" - telling a publisher they mustn't run ads paid for by foreigners sounds to me like "abridging their freedom" big time.
Which ones?
All of them. Dating back to the Eighties. Or Seventies if we count the way you tried to claim she was fired from the Warren Commission for a "lack" of ethics.
The ones where the FBI plainly spelled out the illegal things she did and directly told you that anyone else would have faced legal jeopardy for the same acts?
You mean the ones where the FBI tortuously tried to make accusations that even they had to admit would be as fabricated as the time they tried to catch Malcolm X?
The ones where all of her staff had to be offered immunity deals before they would even talk about it?
You mean the ones where the staff knows the first rule is NEVER talk to the police?
The ones where the simply broke federal law at numerous levels and looked you in the eye and lied about (and still does to this day), but assures us that her husband's private meeting with the chief law enforcement officer who would be tasked with indicting her, and who then had to recuse herself, didn't have any impact at all?
You might as well be accusing her of tearing the tags off mattresses and walking a lobster down the streets of Miami. Your claims of Seth Rich's murder, a dozen wasteful Benghazi investigations, and pardoning Joe Arpaio, show you for who you are.
A crooked crook who crooks crooks.
Gotcha.
Got nothing as usual.
You're confusing "got away with it" with "didn't do it."
You're confusing your obsessive conspiracy theories with reality.
Go back to Moscow you KGB stooge. Let Putin piss over you.
I guarantee this will turn into a giant nothing burger and the DNC will have to "pivot" again to the next story about why the election was stolen by the russkies.
I think that narrative is coming apart at the seams right now so they will have to drop it. It looks like this laser like focus on this might result in a couple of the popular democrats getting burned. There is mounting evidence that the intelligence services where improperly used by the past administration to target their political opponents, which if true, would make Watergate look like a circus side show...
Now we hear that the russkies purchased Facebook ads? Unless it can be proven they coordinated this with the Trump campaign, what difference at this point does it make? Even if they DO prove coordination, what difference will it make unless Trump himself is proven to know about it? What's the likelihood of that? (Snowballs chance)
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I really liked a comment by Chelsea whatever her name is the other day - "the Trump/Russian ties must be true because of how long they've stuck around, if they weren't true no way they would stick around this long".
s/Trump/Clinton s/Russian Ties/email.
First, let me say this. I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity. Facebook's mission is all about giving people a voice and bringing people closer together. Those are deeply democratic values and we're proud of them. I don't want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That's not what we stand for. ...
So today I want to share the steps we're taking to protect election integrity and make sure that Facebook is a force for good in democracy.
Elliot Carver -
The Carver Media Group Network has the ability to reach every person in every village in every nation. But do not fear me, for tonight I offer you my declaration of principles: A promise to the men and women of this planet, my brothers and sisters whom I so humbly serve, I promise to report the news without fear or favor, I promise to be a force for good in this world, Fighting injustice, crushing intolerance, battling inhumanity, - Striking a blow for freedom...
Are you assuming "I'm With Her" Zuck is unbiased?
You're dumb. The FBI said, "We don't think we can prosecute her because we don't think we can show that she broke the law as the law is written."
But even then, even IF the FBI had said, "We found nothing" you'd still say evaded prosecution, and even real investigating, because she's rich, famous, and Obama was running the show, because it's clear that your mind is made up before it processes information available to you.
"Old man yells at systemd"
How is this at -1 moderation? The director of the FBI and the public statements made by the investigative team direclty said they found 110 felony counts but "no reasonable prosecutor would take the case". They had evidence. They knew it was career suicide for a prosecutor to actually prosecute the crimes because of the political and personal affiliations of the then head of the DOJ.
These are historical facts. You can watch them on youtube. No secondary sources needed. No interpretation needed.
Facts have been moderated down on slashdot.
Where just spending a lot of money on something that seems less important then some make it out to be.
You might as well be accusing her of tearing the tags off mattresses
No, tearing off mattress tags isn't the same as destroying government documents under subpoena. It's not the same as handing classified material (some of it extremely sensitive, with highly compartmentalized access) to people who don't even have clearances for storage in their personal home offices. We can tell you know that such crimes are what she got away with because you don't ever actually address the substance of the matter, and just go for the usual juvenile, lazy ad hominem for the benefit of the echo chamber you hope you're in. Thanks for being true to form.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Didn't say unbiased. Didn't say that at all. I just left open the possibility that FB might have complied with the government investigation even if Hillary had won. I have no reason to believe that they wouldn't. Saying that they would have stood in the way is nothing more than speculation. There are plenty of good reasons to condemn FB; no need to invent more.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Not true...
Putting classified onto an unauthorized system or taking it to an unauthorized location and storing it in an unauthorized way IS a crime. Unauthorized disclosure is just the result of unauthorized handling of classified. It's NOT treason, but mishandling classified information is indeed a crime.
Don't fall for Hillary's narrative. It's not true... Don't fall for those who claim she committed treason either, because that's not true. But there *could* be a crime here.
Go back and listen to Comey's statement when he was letting Clinton off the hook before the election. Where I don't agree with is conclusion (that no prosecutor would charge and try this case) it is CLEAR that she was extremely careless with classified information, which by the statute is criminal. Comey just let here skate...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
"Facts have been moderated down on slashdot."
Slashdot is a haven for SJWs these days, as they've driven most of the old guard away. And SJWs lurve the Lizard Queen, who never, ever did anything bad in her life.
How do you know the content of the ads?
Also: "anti-LGBT, racist, anti-immigration campaign not specifically targeted at any candidate". Ummm I think only one candidate in the election held those positions. I could be wrong though.
Emailing yourself a classified document and walking out of a SCIF with one shoved in your pants is the same thing according to the law.
As a European all I can say from someone sitting on the outside is that in your rigged two party system one of the candidates (the "blue" puppet) was so fucking awful that the slightly less awful candidate (the "red" puppet) romped home.
American politics is worse than anything I've seen from any so called banana republic. An utterly fixed system where you get to choose between two tightly controlled establishment puppets. No choice. No democracy. It's like being given the choice between being punched in the face or kicked i the balls.
But now the "blue" puppets support apparatus are crying like 3 year olds about some "Russian interference". Boo hoo.. "big boys did it and ran away".
Just face facts. Your "blue" puppet "candidate" was just fucking god awful ! Stop crying and get one with life. Stop trying to make excuses. Russia didn't win the election. The election was "lost" because of your fucking awful puppet !
If "Russia" put up posters all over town saying "stab yourself in the face now" do yo uthink that would make any difference to what I did today.
Fucking morons the lot of 'em.
So the staff that she hired to help run her illegal servers weren't unauthorized persons... except in the capacity that they were, and that they also broke the law and required immunity to speak to investigators.
Wrong.
Comey said that DESPITE being guilty, there would be no prosecution because it wasn't "intentional".
Even leaving aside the question of whether or not any of her actions were intentional, 'intent' is NOT a required component of 'negligence', which is the other part of the statute.
Of course, this is the same Comey that wrote a speech exonerating Clinton before his investigators even interviewed her or her staff.
It's always so funny when a lying, anonymous partisan shill tells other people to be quiet.
Yes, a lying anonymous partisan shill like you IS a joke. Even your fellow sycophantic trolls in the nearby cubicles are laughing at you.
No, tearing off mattress tags isn't the same as destroying government documents under subpoena.
Indeed, you're never going to care about it when a Republican does either, no matter how much it happens.
It's not the same as handing classified material (some of it extremely sensitive, with highly compartmentalized access) to people who don't even have clearances for storage in their personal home offices.
Yes, yes, like how Daddy Warbush gave a pardon to a guy who leaked CIA contractor identities.
We can tell you know that such crimes are what she got away with because you don't ever actually address the substance of the matter, and just go for the usual juvenile, lazy ad hominem for the benefit of the echo chamber you hope you're in. Thanks for being true to form.
Ah, somebody hates that we got you pegged for a lying Republican shill.
You know, when your former speaker of the House confesses to money laundering as a bribe to cover up his sex crimes, when a former president conspires with a nation holding Americans hostage to win an election, when they supplied guns and money to brutal oppressors in the name of Freedom, maybe there is something wrong with you.
But what, we can't even talk about Credit Mobiler or Teapot Dome because it hurts your feelings?
That's a very slanted version of what happened. I suppose you went to wikileaks to examine the mishandled classified material yourself?
Have something to say that will get US citizens out to vote for your candidate.
Give speeches in more of the fly over states.
Dont just give the same boring, short speeches in select parts of the elite east and west coasts.
Visit and talk to real people in the fly over states. Take time to listen to real US citizens and talk to them.
A few very simple steps win US elections.
A political party has to find a candidate that has the energy to give a charismatic speech anywhere in the USA on topics people can relate to in their own states.
Find a real candidate who can win in more of the very different parts of the USA.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The FBI said, "We don't think we can prosecute her because we don't think we can show that she broke the law as the law is written."
What Comey actually said:
"Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."
That's something VERY different.
She's a former attorney - she knows "ignorance" is no excuse especially as a secretary of state illegally having classified info. she wasn't cleared for by the DOD - period.
APK
P.S.=> That's a fact & it is EXACTLY how I would've put her away, for a LONG time... apk
If we're trying to reduce the influence of ads bought by foreigners on U.S. elections, shouldn't Facebook be turning over all ads purchased by foreign entities during the election cycle?
Or is the goal here to arrive at a predetermined conclusion - that Russia tried to influence the election?
The whole world should be allowed to see these adds. Hillary had one billion 200 million dollars in campaign adds and 100 thousand dollars in adds is a big deal. If these adds had much of an effect all the candidates should use them for their campaigns.
That costs extra you know.
Yes,but how else will he attract the Russian Babushka?
I mean, he is now the savior of the political system. All hail Mark Z...2020!
How is the parent comment a -1? Apparently Liberals are suppressing speech they disagree with again...
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
euh no. The wiretaps were started before Trump was even president. He was just a dumb a** that picked terrible people to help him get elected.
You're also ignoring the several cases of laundry money related to Trump properties around the world... and guess where those "investors" are from... ding ding ding... Russia. You're also ignoring his children and in-laws bragging about how they don't need loans from the US anymore because they got all their loans from where? ding ding ding... Russia
make greed great.
One Simple Chart Proves That Facebook Thinks You're A Moron.
Ad buys that 'MAY' have been purchased by Russian-linked accounts to run 'potentially politically related' ads:
$50,000
Ad revenue that Facebook generated in the U.S. over the same time period between 3Q 2015 and 2Q 2017:
$26,826,000,000
... since they refuse to self regulate. Better yet, shut them down as a public hazard.
I said that months before the Russian ads were public knowledge.
Zuck thinks it is bad PR to show the public. Well it is worse to hide them.
We need a non-profit open source version of FaceBodge to move the FB addicts over to where their identities will be safe.
Shut the damn thing down. It is a menace like giving free guns away a block from a school.
Ironically, it's only Putin's trolls keeping it alive.
Of course there is reason to (pretend to) believe that. The smear job on Hillary was built from this kind of insinuation, and look at the results.
So basically they just said: here is the data. To me this should be illegal to do. Get a judge in there with a court order. Otherwise it should be seen as a serious breach in anything that concerns privacy.
Yes, I will speak up for those that I am against. My enemies should have the same rights as me.
But then we are talking about Facebook and the US where privacy means nothing.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
APK broke his asshole twice taking moose dick
As a current moose dick sucker APK knows about sucking massive amount moose cock as often as possible
this article completely ignores the fake ad industry that grew up around last years presidential election.
CNN artical Macedonia
Even if we discovered that russians were behind the fake news, finding malicious intent is nearly impossible.
Sharing the ads with the public clearly labeled as purchased by Russia / Russians would probably do more good and allow those who thought they were being patriotic to know they were duped.
Putting classified information directly in the hands of a hostile foreign government is actual TREASON, yet Trump still sits in the White House.
The good news is that Mueller does not appear like he's going to let him off the hook.
~X~
The LEFT is strong in this one.
Use your LEFTIST POWER for GOOD rather than EVIL.
Putting classified information directly in the hands of a hostile foreign government is actual TREASON, yet Trump still sits in the White House.
The good news is that Mueller does not appear like he's going to let him off the hook.
You do understand that the President is the ultimate authority on what's classified and what's not. He can, on his own initiative, declassify anything at any time he so chooses. So by definition, he didn't improperly disclose classified information. It is literally his to do with as he pleases. You can argue the disclosure wasn't a good idea, but it wasn't a criminal act for the president.
Also, TREASON has a specific definition in the US Constitution. Sharing information with "a hostile foreign government" by a president just might not meet the requirements of the crime, depending on what information was supposedly given and the reasons it was given. One could argue that we are not at war with Russia, that they are only our adversaries on the world stage. There is no open conflict, so technically Treason cannot be committed.
Finally, Mueller is specifically limited to the investigation of Russian involvement in the Campaign. Mueller's authority to investigate crimes ends on election night unless there is a cover up of something he's allowed to investigate after that. This means that unless Trump's discussion with the Russians that you consider Treason is tied to the campaign, Mueller has no authority to even look at it. I assume he's staying within his bounds. Your mileage may vary.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
are upset that nobody will let them slide in their lame attempts at covering their support for a traitor.
"The eighties called, they want their cold war back". That was the Lefts' attitude just a few years ago. You're right. Had Hillary won, none of this would be happening. There would be no outrage, no investigation and probably even no accusations that the Russians "hacked" the election (as we often hear or read). The most that the Russians did amounts to some propaganda engineering, and that is hardly shocking.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
The only thing bullshit is your statement. You just ignored some critical facts, outlined below in the following comments.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
The ones where the FBI said that nobody would prosecute what she did because such things were never prosecuted? Guess what - if you or I did what she did nobody would prosecute us.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
The ones where the FBI said that nobody would prosecute what she did because such things were never prosecuted? Guess what - if you or I did what she did nobody would prosecute us.
Tell that to the people who have had their careers ended and have gone to federal prison for doing FAR less than what she did, or were sent to prison only for lying about it. The FBI didn't say that nobody's ever been prosecuted for mishandling classified information, Comey said that given the circumstances he didn't think he could get DoJ to prosecute this particular case. It was in that exact context that he said if it were anyone else, they'd face legal trouble for what they did. You're deliberately choosing to pretend you didn't hear him say those words.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Name some people who went to Federal prison for mishandling classified material without any intent of doing so, please. I haven't found any. Comey said he wouldn't be able to find a prosecutor who'd prosecute for her violations of the law, not that he thought the DoJ would refuse to prosecute. The Attorney General had explicitly left the decision up to Comey, and she would have prosecuted had he recommended it. The statements I read implied no special treatment for Clinton. Some time afterwards, I saw a Republican Congressman arguing that she should be prosecuted, despite there being no precedent for prosecuting what she did. You or I would have faced possible firing and possible loss of clearance for doing what she did.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes