Facebook says “inauthentic” accounts bought roughly 3,000 ads. A number of Russian-controlled Facebook Pages and accounts spent approximately $100,000 on Facebook ads meant to “amplify divisive social and political messages” in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook confirmed in a blog post Wednesday.
Facebook said that “about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages in violation of our policies” bought roughly 3,000 Facebook ads between June 2015 and May 2017. The accounts and Pages were “likely operated out of Russia,” according to Facebook’s blog.
The Washington Post, which first reported the news Wednesday, claims that the ads were purchased by “a Russian ‘troll farm’ with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda.”
Another 2,200 ads, which cost approximately $50,000, were bought by other groups with links to Russia, but were “not associated with any known organized effort...
