Most people fault Facebook over Russia political ads
They want more transparency on information sources
By nearly 2-to-1, Americans say Facebook should have done more to identify and publicize the ads it sold last year to Russians who allegedly tried to influence the U.S. presidential election, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found.
By overwhelming margins, they support requiring social media platforms to label who pays for political ads.
“We should know exactly where this information is coming from,” says Trevor Reep, 31, a bartender from Crested Butte, Colo., who was among those surveyed. Americans should see “where the money comes from and to see what their agenda is behind the support. It’s not just Russia (that’s) affected us; it’s big business and everything else.”
By 46% to 26%, those surveyed say Facebook should have done more to discover and reveal the ads during the campaign.
A sizable majority, 58% to 24%, want Facebook to release to the public the Russian-linked ads turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees. Sunday, Facebook said it would give more than 3,000 of the ads to congressional investigators Monday.
“It’s a huge deal,” says Corinthia Morgan, 21, a college student from Lancaster, Texas, near Dallas, calling the allegations of Russian meddling in the election “the most nightmare thing I’ve experi-
“It’s a huge deal ... the most nightmare thing I’ve experienced with a government.”
Corinthia Morgan, 21, a college student from Lancaster, Texas, on allegations of Russian meddling in the presidential election
enced with a government.”
Some say the issue has been overblown, calling it part of a partisan effort against President Trump.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Jim Littlejohn, 73, a retiree from the Phoenix suburb of San Tan Valley, said in a follow-up interview. “Every time I turn around, something ’s about Russia. They ought to concentrate on something else.”
The poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken by landline and cellphone Wednesday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.
A few days after the election in November, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, said the idea that “fake news” on the site fueled Trump’s political rise was a “pretty crazy idea.” Last month, he expressed regret for making that dismissive comment. Saturday, he signaled he would ask for forgiveness as he celebrated Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.
“For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness, and I will work to do better,” he wrote on his personal Facebook page.
By 77% to 11%, Americans support the proposal that social media platforms be required to label who has paid for political ads, as TV and radio outlets already do. “That’s transparency,” Morgan says.
The partisan divisions are less pronounced on the Facebook issue than is typical for questions involving politics. Republicans were less likely than Democrats to say Facebook should have done more in 2016, 33% compared with 53%. Republicans were less likely than Democrats to say the Russian ads should be released publicly, 47% compared with 61%.
But among Republicans, Democrats and independents, a majority or a plurality agreed that Facebook should have done more, that the Facebook ads should now be released, and that future political ads should be labeled.