Facebook gives Russia-linked ads to congressional intel committees
Under growing WASHINGTON — public pressure to reveal more about the spread of covert Russian propaganda on its site, Facebook said Thursday that it was turning over more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads to congressional committees investigating the Kremlin’s influence operation during the 2016 presidential election.
“I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity,” Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said during an appearance on Facebook Live, the company’s video service. He added that he did not want anyone “to use our tools to undermine democracy.”
“That’s not what we stand for,” he said.
The announcement that Facebook would share the ads with the Senate and House intelligence committees came after the company spent two weeks facing calls for greater transparency about the 470 Russia-linked accounts that it took down after they had promoted inflammatory messages on divisive issues. Facebook had previously shown congressional staffers a sample of the ads — some of which attacked Hillary Clinton or praised Donald Trump — but had not shared the entire collection.
Facebook’s admission Sept. 6 that Russian agents covertly bought ads on the site during last year’s presidential campaign has brought intense scrutiny on the social network and Twitter, entangling both companies in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and raising the possibility of future regulation of political advertising on their platforms. Congressional Democrats asked the Federal Election Commission this week to advise on ways to prevent foreign influence on U.S. elections.
On Thursday, Zuckerberg vowed that Facebook would be “more transparent” and outlined a list of actions that the company planned to take in the weeks ahead concerning political advertising. Those include revamping how the company treats such ads on the social network. Facebook also plans to invest more heavily in its security teams, expand its partnerships with global election commissions and work with other tech companies to share threat information.
In his seven-minute talk from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Zuckerberg also noted that it was his first day back from parental leave after the birth of a daughter. Despite that folksy touch, he had the look of an improbably young leader addressing his people at a moment of crisis.
With his talk of “the democratic process,” “foreign actors,” and “election integrity” — in Germany as well as in the United States — Zuckerberg underscored Facebook’s status as a transnational global behemoth whose power reaches into every corner of life.
“We are in a new world,” he said. “It is a new challenge for internet communities to deal with nation-states attempting to subvert elections. But if that’s what we must do, we are committed to rising to the occasion.”
Twitter, which has kept a low profile since Facebook’s disclosure of the Russian intrusion, said it will brief the Senate Intelligence Committee next Wednesday behind closed doors.
The New York Times reported this month that Russian intelligence appeared to have been behind an infestation of Twitter with automated accounts, called bots, that spread messages against Hillary Clinton last year.
The Times also found Facebook accounts that appeared to have been created by ordinary Americans but were actually concocted by Russian agents.