Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone

Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone
Google, in its prepared statement, said it had also found evidence
that the Internet Research Agency bought ads on its services and created YouTube channels to upload short videos about divisive social issues including law enforcement, race relations or Syria.
The detailed disclosures, sent to Congress on Monday by companies whose products are among the most widely used on the internet, came before a series of congressional hearings this week into how third parties used social networks
and online services to influence millions of Americans before the 2016 presidential election.
“That means that for most of them, if they had been run by authentic individuals, anywhere, they could have remained on the platform.”
Earlier this month, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner introduced a bipartisan bill to require
internet companies to identify those who paid for political ads on the tech companies’ platforms.
Google said the group had bought $4,700 in ads but none of them had targeted users by their
political leanings, which was a targeting tool that Google added before the election.