Google, Twitter and Facebook have come under fire for allowing the spread of bogus news – some of which was directed by Russia – ahead of the 2016 US election and in other countries.
In a blog post in September, Facebook said that more than 3,000 advertisements posted between June 2015 and May 2017 had Russian links.
These ads came from a Russian company called Internet Research Agency.
According to CNN, Russia-linked Facebook ads were targeted to reach people living in Michigan and Wisconsin, both of which were won narrowly by Trump.
Facebook told Congress that the apparent political meddling included use of its image-sharing application Instagram.
Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch told a hearing that Instagram posts by suspect Russian accounts were seen by some 20 million Americans last year.
‘I’ve expressed how upset I am that the Russians tried to use our tools to sow mistrust,’ Zuckerberg said
The data on Instagram is on top of the estimated 126 million Americans exposed to Facebook posts from Russian entities seeking to create divisions during the election campaign.
‘I’ve expressed how upset I am that the Russians tried to use our tools to sow mistrust,’ Zuckerberg said.
‘What they did is wrong and we are not going to stand for it.’
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg addressed criticism over allowing disinformation and manipulation during the US presidential election, just hours after the company’s top lawyer faced a grilling at a Washington congressional hearing at the end of last year.
‘Our community continues to grow and our business is doing well,’ Zuckerberg said.
‘But none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don’t bring people closer together. Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.’