9/21/2017
Despite President Trump’s claim that Russians influencing the election is “fake news”, today Facebook announced that it is a fact.
Facebook will turn over to Congress over 3,000 political ads taken out by Russins in an attempt to influence the 2016 election.
The company has been struggling for months to address the steadily mounting evidence that Russians manipulated the social media platform in their bid to tip the presidential election in favor of Republican Donald Trump. “I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity,” Zuckerberg said on Facebook Live, a video streaming service provided by the company. “Facebook’s mission is all about giving people a voice and bringing people closer together. Those are deeply democratic values, and we’re proud of them. I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That’s not what we stand for.” “We are in a new world,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook has drawn particular attention in the weeks since it announced, on Sept. 6, that the Internet Research Agency, a notorious troll farm based in St. Petersburg, Russia, had purchased political ads through Facebook.
How did Facebook come to the conclusion that these ads were placed by Russians? Because they were paid for in rubles. The 3,000 ads identified by Facebook may just be the tip of the iceberg. Facebook actually doesn’t know how many ads were placed by Russians from fake accounts in the U.S.
Despite Trump’s constant denials about Russians, and their influence on the elections, more and more evidence seems to surface. This now confirms what every major American intelligence agency has already stated. Russians took deliberate and direct action to undermine the presidential campaign. The effect was to support Donald Trump and his view points on various topics. Did they actually have an effect? Were voters influenced by the ads? Nobody will ever know what extent the ads had on the election, but hopefully steps will be taken to eliminate the possibility in the future.
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