Facebook, YouTube admit to wider-ranging campaigns by Russian “state actors”

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Ahead of a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill, a combination of leaked statements and official blogs confirmed a wider-ranging impact by Russian "state actors" on platforms operated by Facebook and Google than the companies had previously disclosed.

Reports from The Washington Post and Recode separately claim that Facebook's Tuesday testimony will state that up to 126 million people were exposed to Russian operations on its site during the 2016 presidential election season. Facebook's official statements have previously focused solely on the reach of paid advertisements. This new, larger number is due to Facebook now counting non-ad operations conducted by the Internet Research Agency, a disinformation organization with Russian ties. Reports have pointed to the IRA creating seemingly legitimate American accounts with aims of indirect political disruption.

According to reports, Facebook will say on Tuesday that this "troll farm" posted 80,000 times between 2015 and 2017, which resulted in 29 million direct appearances on Facebook news feeds. Thanks to real users liking, sharing, and commenting on these posts, the IRA campaign's total reach is somewhere between 87 and 126 million impressions, according to Facebook's estimations.

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