Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over “the stored contents of any account,” including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.
A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasn’t shared the same information with Congress in part because of concerns about disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S. privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.
This is interesting because not only does it mean that Muller's team might be able to follow the money to identify exactly who these Russian ad buyers might be, but also how they are connected to Vladimir Putin.
They might also be able to use the information to determine who these ads targeted, and how they were spread across the social media landscape.
And personally I don't blame Facebook for holding back from Congress. I simply do not trust the Republicans in charge of that investigation.
Update: I was notified of this rather interesting Twitter feed from a former federal prosecutor explaining why this story is so significant.
The case that he lays out shows that Mueller quite likely has the evidence needed to charge members of Trump's campaign with a very serious crime, and possibly even Trump himself.1/ Last night, the @WSJ reported that Mueller obtained info from Facebook via search warrant: https://t.co/zYqf1LCqaW— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 16, 2017
Well, I usually agree with you, Gryphen. But I part ways with you on this issue. Facebook is complicit! So much more is going to come out. Why do you think Zuck started an exploratory presidential campaign this year? He saw how easy it was to manipulate voters with psychometrics via social media due to his criminal Russian/Mercer/Bannon/Cambridge Analytics customers. He is trying to hide how complicit FB is.
ReplyDeleteTwitter is also in big trouble for this. Jack must be having panic attacks.
Oops!
ReplyDeleteThis morning's "Mother of all Rallies" in Washington was SUPPOSED to have a huge turnout of Trump supporters flocking to the National Mall. "Rally participants will demand protection for traditional American culture while they express their love for the United States and the America First agenda."
Ironically, they failed to realize that the REAL 'traditional American culture' is that of Native Americans, not uneducated, racist white men.
In yet one more example of Trump's rapidly dwindling support, one reporter estimated the pitifully small crowd to number about 150 people. How embarrassing for something called the 'Mother of all Rallies' to have a turnout less than the Tuesday lunchtime crowd at the local Taco Bell!
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/09/16/pro-trump-mother-rallies-d-c-s-national-mall-sees-laughable-turnout.html
Trumpty-Dumbty sat on a wall (not). Trumpty-Dumbtry had a great fall...
DeleteGood to know Mueller is reaming this Russian probe. This can't make Trump happy at all.
ReplyDeleteOT What is this about the 'mother of all rallies'? I know there are protests in St. Louis, that is due to the police acquittal on murder charges. The Mothers March is not until later in September.
What is this mother of all rallies? Is it for or against Trump and is it huge?
M.O.A.R tens of juggalos gather for Trump. Big sad.
Deletehttp://www.rallylist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/mother-of-all-rallies-800x385.jpg
The electronic 'march' and speaker event in Omaha will have more peeps to see Sarah Palin speak for mothers of America.
Hey G! You'll like this!
ReplyDeleteWatch atheists narrate hilarious tour of Kentucky’s Ark Encounter
Creationist Ken Ham’s $92 million Noah’s Ark theme park was mercilessly mocked in a video tour of the government-subsidized Kentucky boondoggle.
Atheists Seth Andrews and Matt Dillahunty payed the $40 ticket price and $10 for parking to visit the controversial Ark Encounter project in Williamstown, Kentucky. They recorded video of their visit and worked with “various Kentucky freethinkers” to create a hilarious narration of the exhibits, which include humans fighting gladiator battles against dinosaurs.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/watch-atheists-narrate-hilarious-tour-of-kentuckys-ark-encounter/
Mueller is not only looking at potential crimes — he’s overseeing a counterintelligence operation
ReplyDelete...But as the special counsel investigates possible coordination between Moscow and the Trump team, he’s not only looking at potential crimes. He’s also overseeing a counterintelligence operation, looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It’s this counterintelligence effort, not the criminal investigation, that will unravel why and how Moscow-connected groups spent at least $100,000 on Facebook ads during the campaign. Among other things.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/mueller-is-not-only-looking-at-potential-crimes-hes-overseeing-a-counterintelligence-operation/
Mueller adds money laundering expert to focus on Kushner’s shady international dealings: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought on a Justice Department lawyer specializing in international money laundering, according to a new report in Politico.
“[Kyle] Freeny, whose assignment to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s staff has not been previously reported, is the 17th lawyer known to be working with the former FBI chief on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election,” Josh Gerstein reported.
Freeny is a trial attorney from the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/mueller-adds-money-laundering-expert-to-focus-on-kushners-shady-international-dealings-report/
Smoking gun?: Maddow pinpoints a massive missing link in the flurry of Trump firings and resignations
ReplyDeleteWatch Maddow detail the vice president-sized hole in many of the Trump White House’s biggest scandals below, via MSNBC.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/smoking-gun-maddow-pinpoints-a-massive-missing-link-in-the-flurry-of-trump-firings-and-resignations/
This is good news to me. I have my doubts about Pence. Can't wait until more facts emerge and we know for certain who he is.
DeleteThis website has become the alt-right’s favorite cesspool of hate
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/this-website-has-become-the-alt-rights-favorite-cesspool-of-hate/
Linguistic data analysis of 3 billion Reddit comments shows the alt-right is getting stronger
...The alt-right isn’t one group. They don’t have one coherent identity. Rather, they’re a loose collection of people from disparate backgrounds who would never normally interact: bored teenagers, gamers, men’s rights activists, conspiracy theorists and, yes, white nationalists and neo-Nazis. But thanks to the internet, they’re beginning to form a cohesive group identity. And I have the data to prove it.
The_Donald is a Reddit community with over 450,000 subscribers. It’s the breeding ground for the alt-right, and the fermenting vat in which this identity is being formed. According to data analysis by FiveThirtyEight, it’s US president Donald Trump’s “most rabid online following,” and Reddit itself now claims it is the fourth most visited site in the US, behind only Facebook, Google, and YouTube.
https://qz.com/1056319/what-is-the-alt-right-a-linguistic-data-analysis-of-3-billion-reddit-comments-shows-a-disparate-group-that-is-quickly-uniting/
Scary stuff.
Tribalism. The us government tried this "this land is our land, this land is your land" bit to overcome the Native Americans, and now it's caught up on ya'll. Have fun.
DeleteIf Trump won't do what they want...will they find another "standard bearer" or take up arms?
DeleteA third of them are probably just taking a look and liking the rebellion, a third rebelling for the hell of it (not into any ideology) and the other third are probably too lazy to actually do anything about it all.
All those children (and the infantalized adults) being little shits cause it's cool to hate whatever others love.
So these 450K are the ones Roger Stone was alluding to when he gave the threat of Civil War should dRumpf be indicted and/or impeached? Good luck with that.
DeleteEasy to sit behind a computer screen and mouth off. Show up in public is an entirely different matter.
Pussies Galore.
'alt-right is getting stronger'
DeleteThey speak Trumpism. That means the alt-right is getting weaker.
Years ago there was stories of alt right nutjobs going into fire,police,military for just that,a showdown. That way there'd be no one to respond to lib fires,police calls,ect.
DeleteIt may also be that Mueller's warrant was very specific over what he wanted and the one from Congress wasn't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Facebook may have uncovered a lot more information since reporting to Congress. You can gather a lot of data in a week, once you know what you're looking for.
WHENEVER CHUMP MAKES A PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT GIVE HIM SOME TIME TO FLIP FLOP
ReplyDeleteWall Street Journal
Trump Administration Won’t Withdraw from Paris Climate DealU.S. has stated it will ‘not renegotiate the Paris accord’ but will review its term
Trump Administration Won’t Withdraw from Paris Climate Deal U.S. has stated it will ‘not renegotiate the Paris accord’ but will review its terms
please, let them get dumpt! i'm sorry but at this time pence is starting to look good!!
ReplyDeletePence is as bad as Drumpf.
ReplyDelete