House Intelligence Committee to release Russian-backed Facebook ads
By Karoun Demirjian October 11 at 5:46 PM
The House Intelligence Committee plans to release a trove of Russian-backed Facebook ads from the 2016 election season after officials from Facebook and two other tech giants testify publicly in November.
The leaders of the committee’s Russia probe, Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) and ranking Democrat Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), told reporters Wednesday that they would move “as quick as we can” to release the advertisements to the public — something Schiff in particular has long urged. Schiff added that the committee would only release the ads once the “personally identifiable information” of individuals who may have unwittingly been made part of the Russian advertising campaign had been redacted.
Facebook identified more than 3,000 advertisements purchased in a Russian-orchestrated campaign to mislead the American public and exploit divisions around issues such as race in the run-up to the 2016 elections. Facebook officials have shared the content of those advertisements with both House and Senate investigators, who are also speaking with officials from Twitter and Google about Russian-backed efforts to manipulate public opinion on their platforms.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said last week that his committee will not release the content of the advertisements Facebook identified. He added, however, that the committee would not stand in Facebook’s way if the company chose to release the content of such ads itself.
Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are planning to speak with officials from Facebook, Twitter and Google about Russian-backed efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in a public setting in the coming weeks.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-intelligence-committee-to-release-russian-backed-facebook-ads/2017/10/11/94d2e70c-aec1-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html
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