Facebook will notify members of Congress this week approximately 126 million Americans may have been exposed to advertising content purchased by a Russian “troll-farm” known as the Internet Research Agency from June 2015 to August 2017, a new report says.
Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch wrote in a testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism 29 million Facebook users were directly exposed to content from the Internet Research Agency, yet after users shared the content, approximately 126 million people may have seen the ads, CNN reported Monday.
The social media platform is unsure how many of the 126 million were actually exposed to the posts because some may have scrolled past the content or not checked their account when the post appeared in the News Feed.
As a result, Stretch says approximately 11.4 million people saw Russian-purchased ads between 2015 and 2017. Yet, the organic reach of content posted by the pages is more than 10 times higher.
Facebook still maintains that these ads were a “fraction of the overall content on Facebook.”
“This equals about four-thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of content in News Feed, or approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content,” Stretch writes. “Put another way, if each of these posts were a commercial on television, you’d have to watch more than 600 hours of television to see something from the IRA.”
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.
Additionally, Facebook has unveiled it would implement additional steps designed to improve transparency of advertisements.
Facebook, Twitter, and Google officials will testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee add the House and Senate Committees this week regarding Russian interference on their platforms.
The ads in question are expected to be released to the public by the House Intelligence Committee this week.
