Technology giants are coming under heightened scrutiny for their firms’ unwitting proliferation of Kremlin-linked propaganda during the 2016 campaign.
Google is the latest firm to have discovered Russian-linked operatives used its site to promote incendiary messages, in an effort to dupe Americans into reading them and then passing the information on to their friends and colleagues.
Another Silicon Valley giant, Facebook, has uncovered postings linked to Russian agents that one expert concluded were likely shared hundreds of millions of times.
Google hasn’t previously been known to have been a major venue for Russian interference. But the firm has now discovered that Russian-linked entities spent tens of thousands to implant ads on its YouTube, Gmail, and Google Search projects.
The Washington Post reported that the Google ads are linked to a different Russian troll farm than the one linked to Facebook – an indicator that the breadth of the Russia campaign is greater than previously known.
Google has discovered Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads on its YouTube, Gmail and Google Search products in an effort to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (file above)
Google runs the world’s largest online advertising business and YouTube is the world’s largest online video site.
Investigators still must sort through the conflicting streams of information about the ads – some of which appear designed to inflame tensions along racial lines. Others bell on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
One even explicitly went after the candidate U.S. intelligence has concluded that Russia favored: Donald Trump.
Among the ads uncovered so far was a $7,000 expenditure to promote the documentary, ‘You’ve been Trumped,’ which goes after Trump’s Scottish golf course and its environmental impacts.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow’s goal was to help elect Donald Trump (above in October 2016 during the election campaign). Google has uncovered less than $100,000 in ad spending potentially linked to Russian actors, according to a source
The New York Times reported on that ad, as well as another with $36,000 behind it, questioning whether then-President Barack Obama should resign.
Researchers at Oxford University researchers announced that Russia-linked accounts also targeted U.S. military veterans as well as active duty service members.
One ad highlighted by the Times asks vets to like and share a picture of a veteran ‘If you think our veterans must get benefits before refugees.’
IN THE ROUGH: Ads weren’t all on the same ideological side. One featured a documentary on a Trump golf course in Scotland. Here, Eric Trump and his wife Lara attend the opening Trump Turnberry’s new golf course the King Robert The Bruce course on June 28, in Turnberry, Scotland
Jonathan Albright, research director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, said the reach of the Russian campaign can be understood only by examining Russia linked posts, not just ads.
His research concluded the posts were shared hundreds of millions of times – potentially billions once it becomes clear how many sites there are, and how many times people ‘liked’ or commented or posted on them.
‘It’s a system,’ Albright told the Post. ‘It’s not necessarily magic. It’s social media marketing at an expert level… This is very well executed.’
Russian-linked entities also purchased ads on Google’s Gmail site
Tech officials are scheduled to appear before congressional Intelligence panels. Former CIA director John Brennan testifies before the House Intelligence Committee to take questions on Russian active measures during the 2016 election campaign in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 23, 2017
Congressional investigators probing election interference want the tech executives themselves to come to Washington to explain what they have learned about what happened and whether it could have been prevented.
Facebook and Twitter executives have confirmed plans to attend November 1 House and Senate Intelligence Committee hearings. Google officials have been invited to testify but have yet to confirm they’re attending.
Google has discovered Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads on its YouTube, Gmail and Google Search products in an effort to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to reports.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow’s goal was to help elect Donald Trump. Congressional investigators are sifting through an array of contacts between Trump associates and officials to see if there was any ‘collusion’ with Moscow.
Logo with signage in front of Building 44, which houses employees working on the Android mobile phone operating system, at the Googleplex, headquarters of Google Inc in the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, California, April 7, 2017
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., attends the fourth day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 14, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Another part of the investigations – and one Senate Intelligence Committee leaders say is still being reviewed – relates to how Russian-linked individuals and firms harnessed technology.
Google has uncovered less than $100,000 in ad spending potentially linked to Russian actors, according to the Post’s report.
Both Twitter Inc and Facebook recently detected and disclosed that suspected Russian operatives, working for a content farm known as the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, Russia, used their platforms to purchase ads and post content that was politically divisive in a bid to influence Americans before and after the November 2016 presidential election.
The Internet Research Agency employ hundreds of so-called ‘trolls’ who post pro-Kremlin content, much of it fake or discredited, under the guise of phony social media accounts that posed as American or European, according to lawmakers and researchers.
Facebook announced last month it had unearthed $100,000 in spending by the Internet Research Agency and, under pressure from lawmakers, has pledged to be more transparent about how its ads are purchased and targeted.
Both Twitter Inc and Facebook (file above) recently detected and disclosed that suspected Russian operatives used their platforms to purchase ads and post content that was politically divisive in a bid to influence Americans before and after the 2016 presidential election
Google’s review had been more robust than ones undertaken so far by Facebook or Twitter, the source said.
Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, in a statement pointed to its existing ad policies that limit political ad targeting and prohibit targeting based on race or religion.
‘We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries,’ a Google spokeswoman said on Monday.
Congressional committees have launched multiple investigations into the Russian interference, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is running his own investigation.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have said Russia intended to sow discord in the United States, spread propaganda and sway the election.