spokesperson for Twitter , Facebook , and Google testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee today about Russian encumbrance on their program . Here ’s what we learned :
Russian ads had a literal - world impingement
We ’ve screw for a while that Russian trolls spent $ 100,000 to upgrade ad on Facebook during the 2016 election , and we pick up this week that Post created by these trolls reached126 million Americans — more than a third of the US population . But Facebook has unendingly downplayed the impact of Russian spending on its platform , arguing that real political effort spend far more on advertising . During today ’s hearing , Facebook ’s frailty president of AR and VR and former VP of advertise Andrew Bosworthtweeted , “ Legit political ad spend was three orders of magnitude more than the $ 100k here . Similar story for organic subject . ”
According to news show study , close to a 12 anti - Muslim protester and more than 50 counter - protesters listen the call . “ Establishing these two vie grouping , paying for the ads and causing this disruptive result in Houston cost Russia about two hundred dollars , ” Burr allege .
Ad buys did n’t entirely target swing states
An intelligence community assessment release earlier this class submit that Russia conducted a widespread campaign designed to influence the 2016 election . But it did n’t act like a distinctive political campaign , at least on societal media .
almost five times more ads were target at Maryland than Wisconsin and more ads were targeted at Washington , DC , than Pennsylvania . “ Maryland , which was targeted by 262 ads in comparison to Wisconsin ’s 55 , was n’t up for grabs ; it was a state the Democratic candidate bear by 26 percent , ” Burr state . The three most heavily targeted states were New York , Missouri , and Maryland , and Sen. Roy Blunt also noted that the metropolis of Ferguson and Baltimore were “ braggart targets . ”
Facebook ’s general counsel Colin Stretch say that only about 25 percentage of the ads were geographically targeted .
https://gizmodo.com/here-are-14-russian-ads-that-ran-on-facebook-during-the-1820052443
Russian trolls turn over millions more Americans on Instagram
While most of the examination thus far has focused on Facebook and Twitter , and to a lesser extent on YouTube , other platforms were used too . Senator Mark Warner noted that there were 120,000 Instagram post linked to Russia . “ The information on Instagram is not as concluded , ” Stretch said , but noted that since October 2016 , these station reached more than 16 million masses . Prior to October 2016 , the station hand at least 4 million , he added .
Senators are n’t well-chosen with the industry , and regulation is coming
Facebook , Twitter , and Google example also bear witness yesterday at the Senate Judiciary Committee , and senators were n’t pleased with their public presentation — and the fact that the society ’ chief executive officer did not attend .
“ I ’m disappoint that you ’re here and not your CEOs , because we ’re talking about policy and the policy of the companies , ” Sen. Angus King note .
Sen. Dianne Feinstein rebuked the technical school companies over what she portrayed as an wholly deficient reaction to substantial national security threat . “ What we ’re talking about is the outset of cyber war , ” she said , predict that Congress had no intention of dropping the issue .
If Google , Facebook and Twitter do n’t step up their biz , Feinstein said , Congress would pace in to mold them . “ You ’ve create these platforms and now they are being misused . And you have to be the ones to do something about it , or we will , ” she said .
Twitter , Facebook , and Google have been quiet so far about whether or not they ’ll digest the Honest Ads Act . When press to suffice whether his company would speak out in financial backing of the legislating , Twitter ’s act worldwide counsel Sean Edgett said , “ We have some okay tuning that we ’d love to talk about . ”
We do n’t know if we ’ll ever see a full record of the Russian - fund ads that operate on Facebook
Although Senators displayed printouts of a few ads today , and other examples have appear in various medium outlets , we still have n’t get word a full lean of this subject matter .
Facebook says it wants to leave the decision to release the advertizing up to Congress , and several senators have been outspoken about their desire to make them public . However , we contract a hint today that several senators do n’t want the ads to be release . “ I think we have a disagreement on this committee as to whether or not to exhaust those , ” Sen. Martin Heinrich revealed .
FacebookGoogleX ( Twitter )
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
