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Facebook admits Russian ad campaign on divisive social and political issues
Facebook has coughed up it has detected Russian ads bought for around $100,000 on issues not directly naming parties or candidates and further $50,000 on directly political messages. They use the terms "information operations" and "US presidential election" in the press release. After sharing some more specifics the press release degenerates to rambling about "inauthentic accounts" and how Facebook will not allow accounts to repeatedly spread fake news via ads.
Submitter: I think Facebook is a dangerous corporation you should steer clear of. Don't give them your activity or your money. For the sake of democracy.
Russian Bots Bought Facebook Ads During the Election
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russian-political-ads.html
Providing new evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Facebook disclosed on Wednesday that it had identified more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on hot-button issues purchased by a shadowy Russian company linked to the Kremlin.
Most of the 3,000 ads did not refer to particular candidates but instead focused on divisive social issues such as race, gay rights, gun control and immigration, according to a post on Facebook by Alex Stamos, the company’s chief security officer. The ads, which ran between June 2015 and May 2017, were linked to some 470 fake accounts and pages the company said it had shut down.
Facebook officials said the fake accounts were created by a Russian company called the Internet Research Agency, which is known for using “troll” accounts to post on social media and comment on news websites.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday September 09 2017, @01:56PM
So have they shown these ads that the Russian trolls bought yet or is it just that they paid for something that have conveniently been deleted already -- which Facebook probably never does. If the ran troll ads for almost two years they should have some left that they could show.
"issues such as race, gay rights, gun control and immigration"; that sounds more or less like the normal issues being talked about in US politics, at least from my outside perspective. All that is missing is the constant tax about military and taxation. If the ad-campaign running the ads for almost two years is it really current divisive issues or is it just a note on how these things never seem to change -- guns and gays are doomed to be constants in the US political debate forever?