Facebook bows to Congress, will release Russian ads

NEW YORK — Facebook will provide the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency to U.S. congressional investigators, bowing to pressure that it be more forthcoming with information that could shed light on possible interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The social media giant also said it will make political advertising on its platform more “transparent.” It will require ads to disclose who paid for them and what other ads they are running at the same time.

That’s key, because political ads on social media might look different depending on who they’re targeted at, a tactic designed to improve their effectiveness.

The moves Thursday come amid growing pressure on the social network from members of Congress, who pushed Facebook to release the ads.

Facebook has already handed over the ads to the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is “actively working” with the U.S. government in its ongoing Russia investigations. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post and live video on Thursday that he has directed his team to provide the ads, created by fake accounts linked to Russia, to Congress.

Currently, there’s no way for outsiders to track political ads or for recipients to tell who is sponsoring such messages.

The company will hire 250 more people in the next year to work on “election integrity,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg hinted that the company might not provide much information publicly, saying that the ongoing U.S. investigation will limit what he can reveal.

“As a general rule, we are limited in what we can discuss publicly about law enforcement investigations, so we may not always be able to share our findings publicly,” he said.