Trump slams Facebook as amid Russia role probe

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticised Facebook Inc as “antiTrump” and questioned its role during the 2016 presidential campaign, amid probes into alleged Russian interference in the election and possible collusion by Trump’s associates.

His salvo came as the social media giant prepares to hand over 3,000 political ads to congressional investigators that it has said were likely purchased by Russian entities during and after last year’s presidential contest.

Trump appeared to embrace the focus on the social media network in his comments on Wednesday, which also took aim at more traditional medial outlets, long targeted by the president as “fake news.”

“Facebook was always antiTrump. The networks were always anti-Trump,” Trump said on Twitter, levelling the same charge against the New York Times and the Washington Post.” Representatives for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s tweet. US Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is among those investigating Russia’s role, said he expected to have the ads by next week and that they should be made public.

“You really need to see them... to recognise how cynical an effort this was by the Kremlin, how they sought to just accentuate those divisions...and drive American against American,” Schiff told MSNBC, adding that Facebook and Twitter Inc executives should testify publicly about the issue.