Tech Companies Set to Tell Congress About Russian Election Meddling

[Dulcinea]

Congress will put Facebook, Twitter and Google under a public microscope Tuesday about Russia’s use of their networks to meddle in the 2016 election, a day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation disclosed its first indictments and guilty plea.

Senators want to know how the companies failed to keep Russians from exploiting their networks and using fake accounts to spread chaos and disinformation. The three companies’ general counsels will appear before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday, with Facebook poised to say Russians bought 3,000 Facebook ads mostly with rubles and that posts reached the newsfeeds of 126 million users.

“If someone is paying you in rubles to place a political ad, or an ad that is intended to sow the seeds of discontent and discord, that ought to be a red flag,” Senate Intelligence panel member Susan Collins of Maine said in an interview Monday. “How much more of a tipoff do you need?”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-31/facebook-twitter-google-to-tell-congress-how-russia-meddled

[Historic NY]

1. FB is so ad orientated that they make it easy...

if your account is setup in certain way they even create the ad, provided the targeted audience you supply the money and it done. Its all about the money.

[tikka]

2. They didn't give a f#ck or even thought about the consequences

As long as they were making money, they didn't care. Collins' naive statement blatantly ignores the obsessive greed of corporations and their lack of scruples.