A member of the House intelligence committee is challenging Facebook on its diversity.
The Latest on Russian use of Facebook, Twitter and Google to try to influence the 2016 U. S. election (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
A member of the House intelligence committee is challenging Facebook on its diversity.
Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell says members of the Congressional Black Caucus visited Facebook’s California headquarters last month. She suggests it will be hard for the company to monitor for ads from Russia that try to stoke racial tensions if employees at the company aren’t diverse.
In the U. S., 3 percent of Facebook’s workforce is black. Sewell said Wednesday the company should make sure it is not « adding to the problem, » and asked the company’s general counsel, Colin Stretch, if she should trust those vetting the ads are a diverse work force.
Stretch said the company understands the importance of diversity.
Many of the more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads that Facebook has turned over to the panel attempt to stoke racial tensions from all sides.
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4:10 p.m.
Documents released by House lawmakers show that Russian-linked organizations buying Facebook ads weren’t always successful in getting their message seen.
One pro-Bernie Sanders ad from a group purportedly called the « United Muslims of America » was narrowly targeted — to those who already follow that group, as well as their friends. Consequently, the ad got just 11 views, and no one clicked it.
Because Facebook charges based on the number of views, the ad cost less than six rubles (10 cents).
Payment was through Qiwi, a Moscow-based payment provider. The company’s website says Qiwi aims to serve « the new generation in Russia » and former Soviet republics.
The ads were released Wednesday as representatives of leading social media companies faced criticism on Capitol Hill about why they hadn’t done more to combat Russian interference on their sites and prevent foreign agents from meddling in last year’s election.
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3:45 p.m.
The House intelligence committee is only releasing a sampling of the more than 3,000 ads that Facebook has turned over to the panel.
Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the committee’s probe into Russian interference, has said the committee will release the ads. But Conaway only released five ads on Wednesday as the panel grilled representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google. Committee Democrats released around two dozen more.
In a memo, the committee Democrats said the panel is working to « scrub personally identifiable information » so they can release the ads.
The ads released by Conaway were all paid for in Russian rubles and directed users to pages that targeted different groups: « Blactivist, » »Woke blacks, » »South United, » »Being Patriotic » and « Back the Badge. »
The ads received between 32,000 and 73,000 clicks.
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3:30 p.m.
The release of a trove of Facebook ads bought by a Russian firm show a clear attempt to target the information to certain audiences.
The release included details on ad placements and spending. In one case, one of the ads — a video parodying Donald Trump — targeted blacks who also are interested in BlackNews.com, HuffPost Politics or HuffPost Black Voices. It was shown 716 times and got 42 clicks.
The ads were released Wednesday as representatives of leading social media companies faced criticism on Capitol Hill about why they hadn’t done more to combat Russian interference on their sites and prevent foreign agents from meddling in last year’s election.
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2:40 p.m.
Lawmakers have released troves of Facebook ads linked to a Russian internet agency and meant to influence American public opinion.
The ads were released Wednesday as officials from Facebook and other social media companies faced criticism for not doing enough to prevent Russian agents from interfering with the American political process. Many of the ads purchased during the 2016 election focused on divisive social issues like immigration and gay rights.
In preparation for hearings this week, Facebook disclosed that content generated by a Russian group, the Internet Research Agency, potentially reached as many as 126 million users. Facebook had earlier turned over more than 3,000 advertisements linked to that group.
Twitter also disclosed that it has uncovered and shut down 2,752 accounts linked to the same group.
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12:25 p.m.
Lawmakers are demanding answers from leading social media companies about why they haven’t done more to combat Russian interference on their sites.
One Democrat says congressional action might be needed in response to what she calls « the start of cyberwarfare » against American democracy.
Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google have struggled at times to defend themselves against complaints they didn’t act quickly or thoroughly enough as it became evident that Russians used the sites to try to influence the 2016 U. S. election.
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee says his questions about the interference were « blown off » by the companies until this summer.
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