Facebook Agrees To Turn Over 3,000 Ads Purchased By Russians In 2016: Report
Facebook has agreed to turn over to Congressional investigators 3,000 ads purchased by Russian-linked groups during the 2016 election.
“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,” wrote Facebook’s General Counsel Colin Stretch.
“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.”
Stretch noted that the Facebook’s decision came after “an extensive legal and policy review,” with consideration for “federal law” which Facebook says “places strict limitations on the disclosure of account information.”
The same federal privacy laws were previously cited by Facebook as a reason for its hesitation in releasing more information about the advertisements.
Facebook recently revealed that Kremlin-linked groups had purchased at least $100,000 worth of ads on its platform during the 2016 election.
It was also revealed that Special Counsel Robert Muller has obtained a search warrant to gain access to the detail so the Russia ad buy of Facebook.
[image via Twitter]
