Facebook to Disclose What Groups Were Targets of Russia-Backed Election Ads -- Update
October 12 2017 - 3:43PM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman and Julie Bykowicz
Facebook Inc. will publicly disclose the types of people
targeted by Russian-backed ads during and after the 2016
presidential election, operating chief Sheryl Sandberg said.
In an interview Thursday with Axios, Ms. Sandberg acknowledged
Facebook's platform was manipulated in a way it shouldn't have been
during the election. She said the company was cooperating with
Congress and planned to share with investigators more information
about Russia-linked activity on the social network.
Facebook last month said it had identified 470 "inauthentic"
Russian-backed accounts tied to one pro-Kremlin company that was
responsible for $100,000 in ad spending on the company's platform.
Those ads reached an estimated 10 million people.
The targeting information will reveal what kinds of American
voters Russians aimed to reach. Facebook enables ads to be targeted
by race, ethnicity, location and other characteristics.
Those who have seen the Facebook ads describe them as being
intended to sow chaos. But Ms. Sandberg stressed that had the ads
been purchased by legitimate accounts, Facebook would have allowed
them to run.
"We don't check the information people put on Facebook before
they run it and I don't think anybody should want us to do that,"
Ms. Sandberg said.
Facebook is sharing information about its findings with other
tech companies, she said. The company also is investing in machine
learning to detect the kind of fake accounts that bought divisive
ads and spread fake news during the election.
Facebook already has shared advertisements with Congress. On
Thursday, Ms. Sandberg said the company also was willing to hand
over free posts shared by those accounts, which would have reached
far more users than the ads.
"We're going to give them the material they want," she said.
Congress is investigating foreign interference in the 2016
election, including efforts to back Donald Trump and oppose his
Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
On Wednesday, House lawmakers leading an investigation into
Russian involvement in the presidential race said they would
release the Facebook ads publicly. Facebook will help to scrub user
information from the ads before their release.
Ms. Sandberg spent back-to-back days on Capitol Hill this week
addressing some of Facebook's challenges in Washington.
On Wednesday, she met with leaders of the House Intelligence
Committee. On Thursday, she and a team of several Facebook
executives sat down with members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
a group of 49 black lawmakers.
In the Thursday meeting, Ms. Sandberg promised lawmakers that
Facebook would do more to combat foreign influence on the platform,
including committing additional staff and improving automated
software to address fake content and foreign propaganda, according
to lawmakers in the meeting.
According to lawmakers, the meeting also featured a frank
discussion on what lines Facebook has established around hateful or
divisive political or social content. Several Russian ads contained
content aimed at inflaming racial, religious or other social
divisions within American society.
"The meeting was a positive step in the right direction but
these concerns around foreign interference in our election and
fanning the flames of racial hatred are existential threats to our
democracy," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat who was
in the meeting. "It will take more than a singular meeting to
resolve these challenges but Facebook does appear to be
authentically committed to continuing to work with the
Congress."
Byron Tau contributed to this article.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 12, 2017 15:28 ET (19:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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