Facebook Admits To Russia Political Ad Purchase During 2016 Elections, Criminal Offense?

After years of denying any role it played in influencing the 2016 US presidential elections, Facebook finally admits to Congress that it did receive payment from Russia for political ads. People representing the social network had no choice but to reveal this fact, where shadowy companies used by Russian entities spent $100,000 to influence a US election.

During their meeting with congressional investigators, Facebook representatives phrased their discovery in a way that suggests they had no knowledge of the intent behind the ads when they were purchased. Upon further investigation, the company claims to have discovered only recently that the money actually came from well-known Kremlin trolls, The Washington Post reports.

Apparently, the propaganda campaign started in 2015, with the ads directly including the name of now President Donald Trump and then candidate Hillary Clinton. The Facebook representatives did not reveal which party the ads favored, but it’s safe to assume that the ads were largely pro-Trump.

Facebook also talked about the issue via blog post, revealing the intent behind the blogs, which would have been obvious to anyone who was using the social network during the most grueling US presidential election in recent memory. The post notes how the ads were supposed to fuel divisiveness across all groups.

“In reviewing the ads buys, we have found approximately $100,000 in ad spending from June of 2015 to May of 2017 — associated with roughly 3,000 ads — that was connected to about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages in violation of our policies. Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia,” the blog post reads.

Considering just how deeply Robert S. Mueller III and his team are looking into the Russia collusion case involving the Trump administration, it’s not unreasonable to say that Facebook might get snagged in the process for its role. Granted, the social network has been working towards addressing its part in helping Donald Trump win, but the damage is already done.