By Colin Stretch, General Counsel

Two weeks ago, we announced we had found more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues that ran in the US between 2015 and 2017 and that appear to have come from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency. We subsequently made clear that we are providing information related to those ads, including the ad content itself, to the Special Counsel investigating allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, some people have asked why we aren’t sharing the content of the ads more broadly.

After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators. We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election. That is an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries — and we want to do our part. Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely.

This has been a difficult decision. Disclosing content is not something we do lightly under any circumstances. We are deeply committed to safeguarding user content, regardless of the user’s nationality, and ads are user content. Federal law also places strict limitations on the disclosure of account information. As our biannual transparency reports make clear, we carefully scrutinize all government data requests, from here and abroad, and we push back where they do not adhere to those legal limitations. And, of course, we also recognize and support the important work of government investigations and take care not to take steps, like public disclosures, that might undermine them.

Over recent weeks, we have grappled with the extraordinary nature of this particular investigation through this lens. The questions that have arisen go to the integrity of US elections. And the limited information Congress and the intelligence community have shared with us to date suggests that efforts to compromise the 2016 election were varied and sophisticated — and that understanding those efforts requires a united effort, from across the technology, intelligence and political communities. We believe the public deserves a full accounting of what happened in the 2016 election, and we’ve concluded that sharing the ads we’ve discovered, in a manner that is consistent with our obligations to protect user information, can help.

That’s why we have reached out to congressional leadership to agree on a process and schedule to provide the content of these ads, along with related information, to congressional investigators. At the same time, we will continue our own review and investigation, and to do our part to make sure investigators have the information they need. We look forward to their comprehensive assessment, and to a greater public understanding of what took place.

See also: Hard Questions: More on Russian Ads</s>Facebook has agreed to disclose ads to Congress that were purchased by Russians on the social media platform in that country's effort to influence the 2016 election, the company announced Thursday.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the brief announcement in a live video update on his Facebook page.

"I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity," he said. "I don't want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy -- that's not what we stand for."

Zuckerberg says Facebook will work to protect election integrity

Zuckerberg said that Facebook has found and shut down thousands of fake accounts that have attempted to influence elections around the world.

"I wish I could tell you that we are going to be able to stop all interference. But that just wouldn't be realistic," he said. "There will always be bad actors in the world and we can't prevent all government from interference."

Facebook is taking nine steps, he said, to protect election integrity moving forward.

He said Facebook is actively working with the federal government on its ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in the election. When the social networking platform discovered the Russia-linked ads recently, they provided them to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Zuckerberg said, and it is now providing those ads to Congress.



Zuckerberg said that Facebook will continue its own investigation into what happened on its platform and will continue to work with the government in discovering how foreign actors and other former Soviet states used its tools.



Going forward, Zuckerberg said that Facebook will work to make political advertising more transparent and that anyone will be able to visit an advertiser's page and view the ads they are disseminating on the platform.



Facebook, he said, will strengthen its own ad review process for political ads.



Facebook is also increasing its investment in security -- specifically in election integrity.



He said Facebook will expand partnerships with election commissions around the world.



Zuckerberg said that it's working to increase the sharing of threat information with other tech companies.



Facebook, he said, is working proactively to strengthen the democratic process.



Zuckerberg said that Facebook is working to ensure the integrity of the upcoming German elections.



The tech giant has been heavily criticized in recent weeks over its advertising policy, with critics – notably Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia -- alleging that ads purchased by Russian persons and entities could have influenced last year's presidential election. Facebook also came under fire for allowing advertisers to specifically target anti-Semites.

Warner told a CBS affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, that the proof of Facebook's cooperation will be revealed in what it hands over to Congress.

"I feel like Facebook has finally been responsible, but the proof will be in the extent of the materials they give us next week, and then will they continue to work with us to identify other sites that may have originated in Russia," Warner said.

Hemu Nigam, an Internet security expert, told CBS News the identity of the ad buyers shouldn't have been a mystery to the social media giant, because they would know where those IP addresses originated.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been tasked with investigating any potential Russian interference in the election as well as any ties President Trump or his associates have or had with the Russian government.</s>Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday Facebook will turn over the contents of 3,000 ads purchased by a Russian agency to Congress.

The ads are being investigated as part of the probe into Russian meddling into the U.S. election.

Facebook has briefed members of Congress and also provided the ads and other information to Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the Russia investigation, the company said.

In all, the accounts purchased some 3,000 ads between June 2015 and May 2017. While the ads didn't specifically reference the election, a candidate or voting, they nevertheless allowed "divisive messages" to be amplified via the social media platform, the company's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said in a statement Sept. 7.

In addition to the 470 accounts that appeared to be run from Russia, Stamos said its investigators also discovered an additional $50,000 in spending via 2,200 ads that "might have originated in Russia," even including ads purchased by accounts with IP addresses in the U.S. but set to Russian in the language settings.

Lawmakers have said they want to know more about the content of the ads pushed out by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency and whether they targeted specific voters or locations in the United States.

Facebook has come under intense pressure since the election to curb the flow of false information. After the election, it updated its advertising policy to say it wouldn't run spots that are "illegal, misleading or deceptive, which includes fake news."</s>Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday Russia-linked ads on the huge social network aimed at inflaming tensions around last year's US presidential election will be given to Congress.

News of the decision came with word that Facebook is cracking down on efforts to use the leading social network to meddle with elections in the US or elsewhere.

"It is a new challenge with internet communities having to deal with nation states trying to subvert elections," Zuckerberg said in a live video presentation streamed on his Facebook page.

Zuckerberg announced a series of steps that would help prevent the manipulation of the social network including more transparency on political ads appearing on Facebook.

"We're going to bring Facebook to an even higher standard of transparency," he said.

"Not only will you have to disclose which page paid for an ad, but we will also make it so you can visit an advertiser's page and see the ads they're currently running to any audience on Facebook."

Facebook earlier this month agreed to hand over information about the ads from Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the 2016 election and on Thursday decided to turn over the information to congressional investigators.

"We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election," Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said in a blog post.

An internal Facebook review showed that Russia-linked fake accounts were used to buy ads aimed at exacerbating political clashes ahead of and following the 2016 US presidential election.

Some 470 accounts spent a total of approximately $100,000 between June 2015 to May 2017 on ads that touted fake or misleading news or drove traffic to pages with such messages, a Facebook official said.

While the amount of money involved was relatively small, enough to buy roughly 3,000 ads, the accounts or pages violated Facebook policies and were shut down, according to Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos.

Most of the ads run by the accounts didn't directly reference the US presidential election, voting, or particular candidates but instead appeared focused on "amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum," according to Stamos.</s>SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday (Sep 21) Russia-linked ads on the huge social network aimed at inflaming tensions around last year's US presidential election will be given to Congress.

News of the decision came with word that Facebook is cracking down on efforts to use the leading social network to meddle with elections in the US or elsewhere.

"It is a new challenge for internet communities to have to deal with nation states attempting to subvert elections," Zuckerberg said in a live video presentation streamed on his Facebook page. "But, we are committed to rising to the occasion."

Zuckerberg announced a series of steps that would help prevent the manipulation of the social network including more transparency on political ads appearing on Facebook.

The huge social network enables any advertiser, including political operatives, to target specific groups of Facebook users based on demographics, hobbies, age or other characteristics shared at the social network.

Some analysts have argued that so-called "dark ads," the contents of which are not available to the public, could have inflamed tensions and potentially impacted the 2016 election.

Zuckerberg said the new steps would address these concerns.

"We're going to bring Facebook to an even higher standard of transparency," he said.

"Not only will you have to disclose which page paid for an ad, but we will also make it so you can visit an advertiser's page and see the ads they're currently running to any audience on Facebook."

Facebook earlier this month agreed to hand over information about the ads from Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the 2016 election and on Thursday decided to turn over the information to congressional investigators.

"We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election," Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said in a blog post.

An internal Facebook review showed that Russia-linked fake accounts were used to buy ads aimed at exacerbating political clashes ahead of and following the 2016 US presidential election.

Some 470 accounts spent a total of approximately US$100,000 between June 2015 to May 2017 on ads that touted fake or misleading news or drove traffic to pages with such messages, a Facebook official said.

While the amount of money involved was relatively small, enough to buy roughly 3,000 ads, the accounts or pages violated Facebook policies and were shut down, according to Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos.

Most of the ads run by the accounts didn't directly reference the US presidential election, voting, or particular candidates but instead appeared focused on "amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum," according to Stamos.

A core question in the congressional investigation is the extent to which online social networks were manipulated by Russian interests to covertly influence the US election, according to Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat and the ranking member of the House permanent select committee on intelligence.

"The data Facebook will now turn over to the Committee should help us better understand what happened, beyond the preliminary briefings we already received," Schiff said in a released statement.

The committee will also scrutinize how rigorous Facebook's internal investigation and why it took as long as it did to discover the Russian sponsored advertisements, according to Schiff.

Schiff express belief that the committee will want to hear directly from tech companies including Facebook, Google, and Twitter in open hearings.

Along with letting people visit the pages of advertisers to see what kinds of messages they are aiming at others on platform, Facebook will strengthen its ad review process, Zuckerberg said.

Facebook is also ramping up its team devoted to election integrity, and looking to expand partnerships with elections officials and candidates around the world.

Facebook also wants to figure out ways that internet companies can share more information about attempts to interfere with elections, according to Zuckerberg.

"It is important that technology companies collaborate on this because it is almost certain that any actor trying to abuse Facebook will try to abuse other online platforms too," Zuckerberg said.</s>Facebook will share the content and related information of the more than 3,000 ads it sold to Russian-linked accounts with the House and Senate intelligence committees, the company said Thursday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a Facebook Live event announced on short notice Thursday afternoon to discuss the decision.

Facebook has already handed over copies of the ads and information about the relevant accounts to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

But it had not yet given the ads to Congress, despite having told congressional investigators more than two weeks ago that it had sold more than 3,000 ads to accounts linked to a Russian troll farm between June 2015 and May 2017.

In a blog post published Thursday afternoon, Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said, “We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election.”

“That is an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries — and we want to do our part,” the post read. “Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely.”

“We believe the public deserves a full accounting of what happened in the 2016 election, and we’ve concluded that sharing the ads we’ve discovered, in a manner that is consistent with our obligations to protect user information, can help.”</s>WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee says Facebook should testify as part of its probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election, and that the social media giant "seems to have been less than forthcoming" with Congress.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said Tuesday that committee members agreed the panel should hold a public hearing after it was revealed earlier this month that hundreds of phony Facebook accounts, likely run from Russia, spent about $100,000 on ads aimed at stirring up divisive issues such as gun control and race relations during the 2016 campaign. The panel is one of several in Congress probing Russian interference and any connections to President Trump's campaign.
• None How Russia-linked groups used Facebook to meddle in 2016 election 



"Facebook seems to have been less than forthcoming on potentially how they were used," Burr said, adding that it's "just a question of when, and potentially the scope of what that hearing would be."

Facebook has briefed members of Congress and also provided the ads and other information to Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the Russia investigation, the company said. In all, the accounts purchased some 3,000 ads between June 2015 and May 2017. While the ads didn't specifically reference the election, a candidate or voting, they nevertheless allowed "divisive messages" to be amplified via the social media platform, the company's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said in a statement Sept. 7.

In addition to the 470 accounts that appeared to be run from Russia, Stamos said its investigators also discovered an additional $50,000 in spending via 2,200 ads that "might have originated in Russia," even including ads purchased by accounts with IP addresses in the U.S. but set to Russian in the language settings.

Lawmakers have said they want to know more about the content of the ads pushed out by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency and whether they targeted specific voters or locations in the United States.

The company has come under intense pressure since the election to curb the flow of false information. After the election, it updated its advertising policy to say it wouldn't run spots that are "illegal, misleading or deceptive, which includes fake news."
• None How Facebook and Google served up ads for racists and anti-Semites 



Burr said a hearing could likely involve Twitter and other social media companies as well. He said the panel hasn't yet issued any invitations, but a hearing would be this fall.

Asked if he expected Facebook to be open to a public hearing, Burr said the company has "expressed they don't have anything to hide, so a public hearing would be very appropriate."

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone wouldn't comment on a hearing but said the company "continues to cooperate with the relevant investigative authorities."

CNN reported earlier this week that Facebook turned over the materials after receiving a search warrant.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told CBSN on Sunday that if a warrant was issued for Facebook materials could be the "the biggest news" in the investigation since the raid on Manafort's home in May.

"For the first time here, what we've learned -- assuming that The Wall Street Journal's report about a search warrant is correct -- is that Bob Mueller went to a federal judge and presented evidence and convinced the judge that a crime was committed involving foreign individuals contributing to a political election here in the United States through their actions on Facebook," Mariotti told CBS News' Elaine Quijano.

Mariotti said Mueller would have needed to do two things to secure the search warrant: Prove there's good reason to believe a crime occurred and lay out evidence that the crime existed on Facebook.</s>Facebook said on Thursday that it would turn over to Congress copies of more than 3,000 ads linked to a shadowy Russian company, for House and Senate committees’ investigations of Kremlin interference in the 2016 election.

The move is an about-face for Facebook, which earlier this month said it had given the ads and other information to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is conducting a criminal investigation of possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign. But Facebook has said it could not give the material to Congress due to privacy concerns.

Most of the ads did not mention Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but focused on immigration, gun control, gay rights and other divisive social issues. They were purchased by 470 fake accounts traced back to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian firm known for using troll accounts to post on news sites.

“After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators,” said Colin Stretch, Facebook’s general counsel, in a blog post. “We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election.”

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said that the company was taking steps to provide more transparency about political ads that run on the site and to prevent covert attempts to influence elections. He said Facebook would continue to investigate attempts by Russia and other “foreign actors” to use the site to interfere in other countries’ elections.

“I don't want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That's not what we stand for,” Zuckerberg said in a video statement.

Facebook executives had briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month on the Russian-linked ads. But Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee, and other lawmakers had criticized the company for refusing to turn over the materials that it had given to Mueller.

Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the Facebook material “should help us better understand what happened, beyond the preliminary briefings we already received.”

He added, “It will be important for the Committee to scrutinize how rigorous Facebook's internal investigation has been, to test its conclusions and to understand why it took as long as it did to discover the Russian sponsored advertisements and what else may yet be uncovered.”

Schiff made clear that Facebook is not be the only company that investigators expect to hear from.

“As we continue our investigation to get to the bottom of Russia’s multifaceted attack on our democratic process,” he said, “I believe it will be necessary to hear directly from Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as others in the tech sector, including in open hearings that will inform the American public.”</s>Facebook will hand over contents of 3,000 adverts to congressional investigators looking at claims of interference in the US presidential election.

Mark Zuckerberg said he had told his team to provide details of the ads, which are believed to have originated from fake accounts linked to Russia.

Facebook is "actively working" with US investigators, added Mr Zuckerberg.

His decision to release the ads comes after growing pressure from Congress for the social network to comply.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has also been pushing for Facebook executives to give evidence since the company revealed the existence of the ads two weeks ago.

The social network said $100,000 had been spent on the 3,000 ads in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Many of the adverts promoted 470 fake accounts and pages, spreading divisive social and political messages, Facebook revealed.

Topics included immigration, race and gay rights, although they did not express support for a particular candidate.

"I don't want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That's not what we stand for," Mr Zuckerberg said in a Facebook broadcast on Thursday.

"It is a new challenge for internet communities to have to deal with nation states attempting to subvert elections," he added.

"But, we are committed to rising to the occasion."

Congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller are looking at the claims of interference - something Moscow denies having orchestrated.

As well as handing over the adverts, Facebook has also agreed other changes to help improve transparency.

The site will now make it possible for anyone to see any political ad that runs on the site - no matter who it is aimed at.

Academics and campaigners have long been calling for the change.

Mr Zuckerberg also said it would make political advertisers disclose who is paying for the ads - a current requirement for TV ads but not social media.

"Not only will you have to disclose which page paid for an ad, but we will also make it so you can visit an advertiser's page and see the ads they're currently running to any audience on Facebook," said the Facebook CEO.

Expanding partnerships with electoral commissions around the world, and systems to deter political bullying are also part of its nine-point action plan to stop potential election meddling.

But Facebook's boss warned the site would not be able to catch all undesirable content before it is published.

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're going to catch all bad content in our system.

"We don't check what people say before they say it, and frankly, I don't think our society shouldn't want us to," Mr Zuckerberg said.

"If you break our community standards or the law, then you're going to face consequences afterwards.

"We won't catch everyone immediately, but we can make it harder to try to interfere."</s>Facebook has provided Congress with details about the ads purchased by Russia-linked accounts during last year's campaign.

"We are actively working with the US government on its ongoing investigations into Russian interference," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post today. "We have been investigating this for many months, and for a while we had found no evidence of fake accounts linked to Russia running ads. When we recently uncovered this activity, we provided that information to the special counsel. We also briefed Congress—and this morning I directed our team to provide the ads we've found to Congress as well."

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Facebook initially shared details about the ads with former FBI director Robert Mueller's special counsel, but did not provide Congress with as much data, citing privacy concerns.

The decision to provide Congress with that data came after "an extensive legal and policy review," Elliot Schrage, VP of Policy and Communications at Facebook, said in a separate post. But the social network decided to turn over the ads because "this is an extraordinary investigation — one that raises questions that go to the integrity of the US elections."

Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking member on the Senate committee investigating Russian interference, tweeted that Facebook's decision is an "important & absolutely necessary first step. The American people deserve to know the truth about Russia's interference in the 2016 election."

Facebook earlier this month said 470 "inauthentic" accounts and Pages that "likely operated out of Russia" spent approximately $100,000 between June 2015 and May 2017 on 3,000 Facebook ads. Those ads were focused on "amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum—touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights."

Facebook's investigation can only dig so deep, Schrage continued. To really find out what happened in the 2016 election requires "an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries," he said.

"We may find more, and if we do, we will continue to work with the government," Zuckerberg said. "We are looking into foreign actors, including additional Russian groups and other former Soviet states, as well as organizations like the campaigns, to further our understanding of how they used our tools. These investigations will take some time, but we will continue our thorough review."

Zuckerberg said he expects officials "to publish its findings when their investigation is complete."

As for what Facebook can do at this point, Zuckerberg pledged to "bring Facebook to an even higher standard of transparency" regarding political ads.

In the next few months, Facebook users will be able to visit the Page of an advertiser to see what other ads they've produced, as advertisers can target specific people with certain types of ads.

Meanwhile, Facebook will also "strengthen" its ad review process for political ads. "Most ads are bought programmatically through our apps and website without the advertiser ever speaking to anyone at Facebook. That's what happened here," Zuckerberg said, regarding the Russia ad buys. "But even without our employees involved in the sales, we can do better."

That includes adding 250 more people to Facebook's election integrity team, expanding partnerships with election commissions, and sharing more threat information with other tech and security companies. "It's almost certain that any actor trying to misuse Facebook will also be trying to abuse other internet platforms too," according to Zuckerberg.

He acknowledged that it will likely be impossible to "to catch all bad content in our system."

He continued, "We don't check what people say before they say it, and frankly, I don't think our society should want us to. Freedom means you don't have to ask permission first, and that by default you can say what you want. If you break our community standards or the law, then you're going to face consequences afterwards. We won't catch everyone immediately, but we can make it harder to try to interfere."

This weekend, Germans head to the polls for an election many thought Russia would also try to disrupt. Thus far, however, Facebook has "not yet found a similar type of effort in Germany," Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg didn't really touch on fake news in his post, though Schrage said fake accounts like the ones that purchased ads often distribute deceptive material, such as false news, hoaxes, and misinformation. In the wake of last year's election, Zuckerberg asserted that "the idea that fake news on Facebook...influenced the election in any way… is a pretty crazy idea." Clearly, his view on that has evolved somewhat in the last year.
Facebook agrees to disclose ads that ran in the U.S. in 2016 from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency to United States Congressional investigators. Earlier, this information was provided to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.