SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of US ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-yearperiod through May.Facebook said 3,000 ads and 470 “inauthentic” accounts and pages spread polarising views on topics, including immigration, race and gay rights. Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia.”

He said that a majority of the ads did not specify any candidate, but “the ads and accounts appeared to focus 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.”

“One question that has emerged is whether there’s a connection between the Russian efforts and ads purchased on Facebook,” he wrote. Non-US citizens may generally advertise on issues.Other ads, such as those that mention a candidate but do not call for the candidate’s election or defeat, fall into what lawyers have called a legal gray area.Facebook announced the findings in a blog post by its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into inf luence operations during the 2016 US presidential election.Facebook briefed members of both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on Wednesday about the suspected Russia advertising, according to a congressional source familiar with the matter. That includes “reducing stories from sources that consistently post clickbait headlines that withhold and exaggerate information.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees are examining Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election, and whether any Trump campaign officials coordinated with Russian sources.
Facebook tells congressional investigators an operation, traced to a Russian company seeking to target voters, spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting divisive social and political messages during the 2016 U.S. election.