russian collection of information facebook

The Post reported that President Barack Obama asked him just after the election to take it seriously, but that Zuckerberg replied that the company's power to control the spread of information was limited. The Russian group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election is at it again, using a network of fake accounts and a website set up to look like a left-wing news site, Facebook and Twitter. Members of the hacking group connected to the GRU created the DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 accounts in June 2016 to help spread the emails stolen in late 2015, The Post reported.įacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized by those who say he shrugged off warnings about the fake-news epidemic on the platform. They created accounts to amplify emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee.A group impersonating a California-based Muslim organization was also set up to push fake stories about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. The ads boosted Trump, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, and at least one ad centered on the Black Lives Matter movement. They purchased ads that promoted outsider candidates and exploited racial tensions.Another group, Being Patriotic, organized pro-Donald Trump flash mobs across Florida in August 2016, according to The Daily Beast. Russia-linked Facebook groups like Heart of Texas and SecuredBorders tried to organize anti-immigrant rallies in Texas and Idaho in the months leading up to the election. They created Facebook events for rallies in several states.

Here's what we know so far about how the Russians used one of the biggest tech companies in the world to energize and influence American voters: The photographs depict glaciers, mountains, rivers, lakes and other landscapes, the local Kyrgyz people, and scenes from Semipalatinsk.

The US intelligence community concluded in January that the social-media operation was part of a larger influence campaign by Russia - and that assessment, according to former intelligence chief James Clapper, 'did serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy' of the election outcome. It often indicates a user profile.Ī steady stream of leaks most likely coming from Capitol Hill - Facebook said late last week that it would turn over the ads to Congress - have indicated the ads and the accounts that bought them were focused primarily on exploiting divisions over issues like race and immigration.Īnd as Business Insider has previously reported, the accounts' activity did not stop at posting controversial memes and hashtags - many organized events, rallies, and protests, some of which galvanized dozens of people.įacebook was not oblivious to the Russians' presence on the platform - The Washington Post reported this week that the company contacted the FBI last June when it noticed that members of a hacking group connected to Russia's military intelligence unit, the GRU, had begun creating fake accounts to amplify stolen emails. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Russian collection of information facebook