FACEBOOK CONFIRMED IT MADE MONEY FROM RUSSIA-BASED POLITICAL ADS!

It’s no secret that Russia interfered in the US presidential election last year (2016). Trump may not be convinced, but every spy agency has confirmed that Russia used various weapons to try to meddle with the election process, including spreading the majority of fake news on social networks to sway voters in a certain direction.

On Wednesday Facebook confirmed that Russian operations may have targeted the US presidential election with ads purchased on its social network. It also indirectly confirmed that it made money from this particular endeavour and that it used to allow just about anyone to buy any kind of ad on its network. 

Facebook says that it doesn’t allow fake accounts on Facebook and that they will shut them down. However, it doesn’t explain how fake accounts were able to pay for ads on its network. The implied message is that just about anybody could have posted ads on Facebook, regardless of whether they had legitimate Facebook accounts or Facebook Pages. Or, at least, that was the case in 2015 and 2016 when these ads ran on the social network without raising any flags.

Facebook findings reveal that while the ads did not endorse a specific presidential candidate or voting, they did focus on “amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from race issues to immigration to gun rights.”

In addition to sharing the information with the public, Facebook also informed the US Congress of its findings, but both the Senate and the House are conducting separate investigations into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook gave its findings to Robert Mueller; the special counsel that's also investigating the connections between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign.