RUSSIANS SPENT THOUSANDS ON GOOGLE ADS

Ads not linked to Kremlin-affiliated entity that bought ads on Facebook Inc

WASHINGTON

GOOGLE has discovered Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads on its YouTube, Gmail and Google Search products to meddle in the 2016 United States presidential election, a person briefed on the company’s probe said on Monday.

The ads do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated entity that bought ads on Facebook Inc, but may indicate a broader Russian online disinformation effort, according to the source, who was not authorised to discuss details of the confidential investigation by Google.

On Monday, Microsoft Corp separately said it was looking at whether Russians bought US election ads on its Bing search engine or other Microsoft-owned products and platforms.

The revelation about Google is likely to fuel further scrutiny of the role that Silicon Valley technology giants might have unwittingly played during the election. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow’s goal was to help elect Donald Trump.

Google has uncovered less than US$100,000 (RM423,000) in ad spending potentially linked to Russian actors, the source said.

Twitter Inc and Facebook recently detected and disclosed that suspected Russian operatives, working for a content farm known as the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, used their platforms to purchase ads and post content that was politically divisive to influence US voters before and after the November 2016 presidential election.

The Internet Research Agency employed hundreds of “trolls” who posted pro-Kremlin content, much of it fake or discredited, under the guise of phony social media accounts that posed as US or European residents.

Russia’s ad purchases on Google were first reported by The Washington Post.

Google did not deny the story, and in a statement pointed to its ad policies that limited political ad targeting and prohibited targeting based on race or religion.

“We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries,” a Google spokeswoman said on Monday. Reuters