‘We Are Actively Working With the U.S. Government on Its Ongoing Investigations Into Russian Interference’ Zuckerberg Says
Reversing course, Facebook has just announced that it will hand over to Congress 3000 ads bought by Russia designed to interfere with the 2016 election. It is illegal for foreign entities to donate to U.S. political campaigns and these ads may or may not have been illegally purchased.
The ads, which cost about $100,000 to $150,000, focused on social issues, including same-sex marriage and LGBT civil rights, gun control, immigration, and race relations.
Facebook’s General Counsel Colin Stretch made the announcement simultaneously with Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (photo), who held a Facebook live video announcement explaining how the company plans to work with the U.S. and other governments to help prevent election interference.
Facebook two weeks ago announced it was sharing the data with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but now has decided to expand its “sharing” to include Congress.
“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,” Stretch says in a Facebook Newsroom post. “That is an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries — and we want to do our part. Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely.”
Zuckerberg says, “We are going to make political advertising more transparent.â€Â
And says, “I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine our democracy.”
RELATED:Â That $100,000 Russia Spent on Facebook Fake News Ads Could Have Reached 70 Million Americans
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