Representatives from Facebook informed Congress that they had mistakenly sold advertising space to Russian agents seeking to influence the 2016 US presidential election. The social network, after an investigation, was able to detect that it had received $100,000 that came from fake Russian accounts.
Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos released an official statement detailing the investigation process:
“In reviewing our ad spend, we found approximately $100,000 in ad spend from June 2015 to May 2017 – associated with approximately 3,000 ads – linked to approximately 470 non-existent accounts and Pages that violated our policies. Our analysis indicates that these accounts and Pages were linked to each other and likely operated from Russia.”
While some of the ads clearly supported Donald Trump or even Hillary Clinton, the statement says the majority of the ads focused on controversial voter issues, such as gun control, abortion, and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights.
According to Alex Stamos, the purpose of these accounts when buying ads was to reinforce divisive messages.
Congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller are currently investigating Russian election interference, and Facebook representatives are working with authorities to uncover the depths of Kremlin involvement.
According to Alex Stamos:
"We have shared our findings with the US authorities investigating these matters and will continue to work with them as necessary."
