Facebook Gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller More Details on Russian Ad Buys Than Congress

[MelissaB]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.

The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over “the stored contents of any account,” including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.

A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasn’t shared the same information with Congress in part because of concerns about disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S. privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.

A Facebook spokesman said the company continues to investigate and is cooperating with U.S. authorities. A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment on the investigation.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-gave-special-counsel-robert-mueller-more-details-on-russian-ad-buys-than-congress-1505514552

[RhodeIslandOne]

1. Good

I do not trust some of the Trump apologists in Congress leaking all over themselves.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I think I saw it reported on CNN that Russia even paid for their ads in Rubles.

I wondered if Zuckerberg would have to face Mueller. This was poster on DU last week and the video is all the evidence I need to see to see that they are definitely not innocent!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029595857

[not fooled]

3. Hey fuckerberg

how does it feel to have had a hand in turning our country into an international laughingstock, and unleashing all the horrors this maladmin is committing? Hope the $$$, er, rubles, make up for the guilt. If you can feel any. After all, didn't he steal the idea for fb?

e.g. [link:http://www.businessinsider.com/how-facebook-was-founded-2010-3|]

and by the way, journalists out there need to stop referring to what russia did as "meddling", which sounds relatively innocuous and just sort of annoying. Call it what it is--interference or sabotage.

[pennylane100]

4. I think it should rise to the level of an act of war.

I also wonder why we never return the favor and disrupt their elections.