Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are preparing to publicly release 3,000 Facebook ads which Kremlin operatives created as part of an effort to spread propaganda across social media during the 2016 election.
Facebook and the Democrats are currently negotiating how much user data to reveal during the release.
“We have been in ongoing discussions with Facebook and hope to have the final redacted ads in our possession within a matter of days,” Rep. Adam Schiff, California, told The Hill. “As soon as we receive them, it is our intention to share them with the public.”
Congress has been in possession of the ads since last fall but thus far, fewer than 50 have been made public. The ads sought to widen American social divisions by distorting debate on lighting rod topics including race, religion and gun ownership.
Many were found to be connected to accounts linked to the Internet Research Company, which was charged last year by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with waging “information warfare” against the U.S.
Facebook has claimed that only 75 percent of the 3,000 ads reached an audience.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the ads could be released this week.
Last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress for two days of contentious hearings that covered a range of issues including how Russian operatives used his social media platform to try and influence the election.
Last month, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a 250-page report concluding that the panels’ yearlong Russian meddling probe uncovered no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Committee Democrats disagreed with the findings.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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