Facebook says fake accounts linked to Russia bought thousands of ads during US election (FB)
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Facebook on Wednesday said it has found evidence that fake accounts "likely operated out of Russia" bought thousands of ads during the US presidential election that were designed to amplify divisive political messages.
Facebook said the ads were part of elaborate "information operations" in which "organized actors," including governments, use social media to deceive the public and distort political sentiment.
The social network discovered roughly $100,000 in ad buys between June 2015 and May 2017 "associated with roughly 3,000 ads" and connected to nearly 500 affiliated fake accounts.
"Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia," Facebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos wrote in a post published on Facebook's company blog, noting that it has shared its findings with US authorities investigating Russia's interference in the election.
The revelation follows months of reports linking Russia to efforts designed to sway November's US Presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But Facebook's announcement about the ads marks the first official confirmation by the company about how its 2-billion member online platform was exploited during the election.
The "vast majority" of ads related to the fake Russian accounts didn't target a political candidate and instead focused on "amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum," according to Stamos.
Facebook conducted an examination of ads purchased over the past two years in response to mounting concern over "Russian interference in the electoral process" and Facebook's role in spreading misinformation leading up to the election, Stamos said.
A sharp turnaround
Wednesday's announcement, titled "An update on Information Operations on Facebook," represents a sharp tunaround from Facebook's previous remarks on its role in the spread of fake news during the election.
Jim Urquhart/ReutersFacebook said in July that it had found "no evidence that Russian actors bought ads on Facebook in connection with the election."
Facebook was widely criticized in the wake of the election for its role in the proliferation of so-called fake news, which many believe helped Donald Trump win the election. CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially called that notion "pretty crazy," but Facebook has since made significant strides to eradicate fake news stories from its platform.
In a research published earlier this year, Facebook detailed its attempts to thwart organized "information operations" that are increasingly used to sway political leanings through the spread of fake news and propaganda on its platform.
"Through the adept use of social media, information operators may attempt to distort public discourse, recruit supporters and financiers, or affect political or military outcomes. These activities can sometimes be accomplished without significant cost or risk to their organizers," Facebook wrote in the April report.
Facebook said Wednesday that its analysis of of the ads purchased before and after the elections were consistent with these tactics.
About one-quarter of the ads were geographically targeted, Facebook said.
Facebook also said it found $50,000 in "potentially politically related ad spending" that may have be linked to Russia. These ads were bought from accounts not associated with any known organized effort, but which had certain common traits, such as US IP addresses but language preferences set to Russian.
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