Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman September 6 at 3:59 PM

Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that it has discovered it sold ads during the U.S. presidential election to a shadowy Russian company seeking to target voters, according to several people familiar with the company’s findings.

Facebook officials reported that they traced the ad sales, totaling $100,000, to a Russian “troll farm” with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, these people said.

A small portion of the ads, which began in the summer of 2015, directly named Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, the people said. Most of the ads focused on pumping politically divisive issues such as gun rights and immigration fears, as well as gay rights and racial discrimination.

The acknowledgment by Facebook comes as congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller are probing Russian interference in the U.S. election, including allegations that the Kremlin may have coordinated with the Trump campaign.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/facebook-says-it-sold-political-ads-to-russian-company-during-2016-election/2017/09/06/32f01fd2-931e-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html?pushid=59b054ac5ea55a1d00000014&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.1ae84383b8b8

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Not surprised.

The Russian tolls milked and nurtured social media (and discussion forums like this) for nefarious purposes to the hilt.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Under Citizens United, Russian companies are comrades too.

So we welcome their rubles into our demokratik process. Spasibo.

[SergeStorms]

5. That's one of the things Mueller is looking for.

He wants to see if the GOP took any campaign money from the Russians, which is illegal. It'll be harder than hell I imagine, but they have experts in that area on their team. If anyone can find it, they will.

[Qutzupalotl]

3. I hope this discourages Zuckerberg from running for president.

His company helped elect Trump.

[SergeStorms]

4. All the GOP "dog whistle" talking points.

"Most of the ads focused on pumping politically divisive issues such as gun rights and immigration fears, as well as gay rights and racial discrimination". Gee, everything the Republican trolls are so terrified of in one package. Dark skinned homosexuals from a foreign country coming to take their guns away!

I signed up for Facebook when it first started taking off. Shortly after, when I saw the ways Facebook could be used for nefarious purposes, I logged on one more time to delete my account and I haven't thought it about it since. People keep asking me "why aren't you on Facebook"? Like I have a third hand growing out of my forehead or something.

Screw Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, and all the other "social media" . Most of my "social media" is done face to face now.

[Blue_Adept]

6. That works nicely if the people you deal with are local

Mine, and family, are spread to the winds around the world. So it's a good way to keep in touch. I've got about 450 people on my list there and thankfully I've not had to defriend anyone in a few years over political views. It's somewhat self-reinforcing in some ways but I don't go on there looking to change minds with political views. I'm keeping up with friends and family on things we're all interested in with hobbies, relations, etc.

And for those like me that work from home it's a welcome bit of social/water cooler time throughout the day amid all the isolation of the job itself.

[SergeStorms]

18. Never thought about that.

I do use Skype to keep in touch with friends in other states, but I just never liked Facebook. Too many people I didn't know requesting to be "friends". I know you can set preferences to stop that, but it just seemed a little creepy to me.

Your situation is different. Hey, if it works for you, go for it!

[BigmanPigman]

13. I never joined Facebook, Twitter, etc

and neither did my family. Maybe it is genetic?
Facebook knowingly allowed this to happen and is he is a liar. If I did have Facebook I would discontinue it just because he is another greedy, lying ass and I avoid supporting them (gee, maybe that is why I am a Dem).

[ffr]

7. Another smaller tRump/KGOP piece of the puzzle falls into place

When 60 minutes gets hold of the tRump impeachment and how everything unfolded over time, it's going to be one hell of a treasonous story.

Rob Reiner, care to jump in on the movie rights?

[FakeNoose]

8. Facebook KNEW what they were doing

They knew the ads were fake and their "news stories" were fake. But the bills were paid so FB didn't care.
Even after thousands of complaints about it, FB did nothing and looked the other way.

This is all BS now. They can say whatever and it doesn't mean shit.

[dalton99a]

21. All Zuckerberg cares about is his stock price

[FakeNoose]

23. I'm sure that's true

... but I'm not certain it was a CEO-level decision to fill up Facebook with those fake ads.

It was probably sales managers who had to meet quotas, so they took the ads without even looking at them. Once FB started getting complaints, none of the executives cared as long as the advertisers paid their bills.

They've spent more time trying to justify their bullshit decision than they ever spent considering the consequences of their actions. I hope everybody boycotts Facebook over this. I would if I had a membership, but I never joined them.

[Hekate]

9. That sonovabitch

[Madam45for2923]

10. This is so infuriating.

[stuffmatters]

11. Meanwhile the FCC is rescinding Net Neutrality.Giving Dark $ even more power to rule the internet.

[stuffmatters]

12. Hopefully this steers Mueller towards "Data King" Mercer/ Putin collusion

[PSPS]

14. If Zuckerberg had a social conscience, he'd refuse all political and "image" advertising.

All he cares about is making money.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Troll farm

[FailureToCommunicate]

16. Zuckerberg's got a lotta 'splaining to do...

"Under federal law and Federal Election Commission regulations, both foreign nationals and foreign governments are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the United States. The ban includes independent expenditures made in connection with an election.

Those banned from such spending include foreign citizens, foreign governments, foreign political parties, foreign corporations, foreign associations and foreign partnerships, according to the FEC. (Permanent residents who hold green cards, however, are not considered foreign nationals.)

Violators face civil penalties, as well as criminal prosecution, if they are found to have knowingly broken the law."

[No-Bozos]

17. Now it is really going to get interesting

For months Facebook has denied it took any Russian money. Now today we get a "oh, by the way, we actually did."

Giving foreign money to a US election campaign is ILLEGAL. That includes any advertising given to Facebook for political advertising. Facebook should at least be charged with receiving illegal funds from a hostile country.

This new information adds tank loads of fuel to the question, did Russia get U.S. help in targeting these illegal ads.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. Zuckerman suffers from many of the personality defects combover suffers from.

I worked 28 years for a computer company whose unofficial slogan was, "Do the right thing." Of course, to do this requires a working moral compass.

[Bruce Fallsteen]

19. Never Trusted Facebook

It wants too much info.

[milestogo]

20. And there are plenty of people who get their "NEWS" only from FB.

[Hugin]

22. And, so... Now I know why there were a slew of Pro-Russian ad preferences...

Set in my profile in August of 2016.

I was targeted!

Not likely to forget this soon, Fuckerberg.

[Hortensis]

24. Of course, we at DU are also a target of the troll farm and they're still here.

Russia is reportedly working very hard on 2018 and 2020, and also of course, DU is the largest single social discussion site for the left.

Except for when the Kremlin tells their professional trolls to hit other specific issues, our Russian and other right-wing saboteur members usually only need to spend 5 minutes at most dropping little firebombs on one of 2 subjects to keep us from coming together to fight the malignant right: How much healthcare reform we should have gone for during the primary and criticism of either one the primary candidates. And then off to set fires on other sites before coming back to throw more fuel on ours.

Of course, we could always just say no. Those who worry that we really could lose the America we were bequeathed.