Facebook turned over 3,000 ads connected to the Kremlin to Congress Monday, providing lawmakers greater insight into how accounts with Russian ties impacted the 2016 election.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, promised to turn the ads over to Congress last month, following pressure from Democratic senators. Facebook previously disclosed descriptions of the ads to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
The ads received by Congress contained content about Black Lives Matter posts, posts characterizing refugees as rapists, and posts backing gun rights and the Second Amendment, CNN reported.
Congress is expected to make some of the ads publicly available.
Facebook announced last month $100,000 was purchased for ads from June 2015 to May 2017 by a Russian group called the Internet Research Agency, which has promoted pro-Russia propaganda. The money was affiliated with approximately 3,000 ads and 470 “inauthentic accounts and pages.”
Facebook then suspended all 470 accounts connected to the ads because they did not adhere to authenticity requirements. Facebook unveiled Tuesday it would implement additional steps designed to improve transparency of advertisements.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has requested representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to testify at a public hearing on Nov. 1. The three companies have not disclosed if they will participate in the hearing.
