Facebook sold $100,000 worth of ad space to a Russian troll farm in 2015 and 2016 so that they could influence our elections. Isn't Facebook great?

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that the social network has discovered that it sold ads during the U.S. presidential campaign to a shadowy Russian company seeking to target voters, according to several people familiar with the company’s findings. 

Facebook officials reported that they traced the ad sales, totaling $100,000, to a Russian “troll farm” with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, these people said. 

A small portion of the ads, which began in the summer of 2015, directly named Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, the people said, although they declined to say which candidate the ads favored. 

Most of the ads, according to a blog post published late Wednesday by Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, “appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.”

Last night Rachel Maddow pointed out that Facebook officials have been denying that this took place for months, so the fact that NOW they are coming clean is likely only the result of the ongoing investigations.

Speaking of investigations apparently Facebook has delivered the information about these ads and who purchased them to the Mueller team: 

Facebook has turned over all information about ads "likely" purchased by Russian operatives to special counsel Robert Mueller, according to a report. 

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the social media giant had sent the former FBI director data including copies of the ads and the identity of the buyers. That report followed news that an internal Facebook investigation found it is agents of the Kremlin may have spent $100,000 on ads with "divisive messages" between June 2015 and May 2017.

Well gee it's nice to see Facebook taking responsibility after it is too late to help to help save our democracy.

Let me state this emphatically once again, the ONLY reason one should have a Facebook account is to keep touch with families members and to see which one of your high school friends is now on their third or fourth marriage.

It should NEVER be used to stay informed about ANYTHING important.


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