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Zuckerberg Promises Transparency on Facebook Political Ads


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Zuckerberg Promises Transparency on Facebook Political Ads

Facebook follows Twitter in trying to inject more transparency with its political ads.
 
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Mark Zuckerberg decided to change things up at Facebook today by announcing the social network is going to be held to "an even higher standard of transparency" when it comes to political ads.

 

"Political advertisers will now have to provide more information to verify their identity," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in his Facebook post. The social network is following Twitter's lead in focusing on political ads amid criticism that the Russian government may have influenced last year's US presidential election.

 

Last month, the company revealed that Russian-linked Facebook accounts had spent $100,000 to serve socially-divisive political ads on the platform. Russia also bought similar ads on Google and Twitter, but outdated campaign laws prevent the public from knowing the identity of the buyers, US lawmakers claim.

 

That's prompted a group of US senators to introduce a new bill that demands major tech companies come clean on their political ad business.

 

Facebook's CEO is taking things a step further. "We're making all ads more transparent, not just political ads," he said. "We'll soon start testing a feature that lets anyone visit any page on Facebook and see what ads that page is currently running," he added.

 

The public will also have access to a tool that can search through every political ad Facebook has ever run.

 

"You'll also be able to see how much an advertiser paid, the type of people who saw the ads and the number of impressions," he said. "Our goal is to fully roll this out in the US ahead of the 2018 midterm elections."

 

The changes sound similar to what US senators are demanding in their new bill, which would force major online services to keep a public file on all political ad purchases. The bill also demands that digital platforms include disclaimers on each political ad, identifying who sponsored them.

 

One of the bill's supporters, Mark Warner, a Virginia democrat, praised Facebook's announcement on Friday.

 

Glad to see companies taking these issues seriously. We need to work together to improve ad transparency. We need the #HonestAds Act. https://t.co/UpotNgHn6y

 

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) October 27, 2017


But the worries don't end with online political ads. Warner is also concerned with how Russia allegedly used fake user accounts on US social media to spread propaganda. The social media companies "were frankly late to the game," in acknowledging these problems, Warner said last week.

 

Time will tell if this move by Facebook will placate US lawmakers. Next week, representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter are all set to testify before US congressional hearings on Russia's interference in last year's election.

 

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knowledge-Spammer

y facebook not show the russian ads ?

 

 

Zuckerberg  is a big  lier

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Twitter Bans All Advertising From Two Kremlin-Backed Outlets, Russia Today And Sputnik

 

   Twitter has banned advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik based on findings by the U.S. intelligence community that both entities attempted to interfere with the U.S. presidential election on behalf of the Russian government, Twitter announced on Thursday.

 

Twitter said its decision, one of the boldest steps taken by a social media company against the Russian outlets, was not made “lightly.” The company said its advertising restriction is effective immediately and for now will only affect RT and Sputnik. Both of the Kremlin-backed sites can continue to use their Twitter accounts as “organic users,” the company said. Twitter also said it will donate the estimated $1.9 million it earned from advertising campaigns run by RT since 2011 to support external research on the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections, with a particular focus on fake news, propaganda and automation.

 

“We are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter,” the company said in a blog post on Thursday. “Early this year, the U.S. intelligence community named RT and Sputnik as implementing state-sponsored Russian efforts to interfere with and disrupt the 2016 Presidential election, which is not something we want on Twitter.”

 

The issue of Russia's use of social platforms to interfere in the U.S. election has engulfed tech giants, such as Facebook FB  and Twitter, which have come under withering criticism for their failure to effectively police content and ads on their sites. Last month, Twitter said it found 201 accounts on its site linked to the fraudulent accounts Facebook had previously identified. Twitter also reported that RT bought $274,100 of ads on Twitter in 2016. Under federal law, foreign governments and foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the U.S.

 

Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to appear in a November 1st briefing about Russian involvement on their platforms.

 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/10/26/twitter-bans-all-advertising-from-two-kremlin-backed-outlets-russia-today-and-sputnik/#10b346423db3

 

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Senators Unveil Bill For Transparent Social Media Ads After Russian Election Interference

 

Two senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to require online platforms like Google, Facebook  and Twitter to disclose more information about political advertising on their networks. The bill comes a few months after major Internet companies reported that Kremlin-linked accounts attempted to meddle with the U.S. 2016 presidential election through their sites. .

 

 Senators Unveil Bill For Transparent Social Media Ads After Russian Election Interference to disclose more information about political advertising on their networks. The bill comes a few months after major Internet companies reported that Kremlin-linked accounts attempted to meddle with the U.S. 2016 presidential election through their sites.

 

Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar introduced the bill, called the Honest Ads Act, in a press conference on Thursday. Sen. Warner is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of several federal committees investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election. If the bill passes, it would take effect starting on January 1 and would hold online platforms to the same rules that govern television, radio and newspaper ads. The bill also would require sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter, to keep a public registry showing the name and contact information of any individual or entity that spends more than $500 on political ads in a year in a push to make it easier for people to see information about who paid for the political ads they see online.

 

Warner said on Thursday that the ads by the Kremlin-linked accounts were aimed at sowing “division” among a wide range of populations, but did not necessarily champion one candidate. Also speaking at Thursday’s press conference, Klobuchar said laws around political ads have failed to keep up with evolving technology and the national security threat posed by the growing capabilities of foreign adversaries.

“Our entire democracy was founded on the simple idea that the people in our country should be self-governing, we don’t want other governments influencing us,” Klobuchar said. “Now 240 years later, our democracy is at risk. Russia attacked our elections and they and other foreign powers and interests will continue to divide our country if we don’t act now.”

 

Republican Sen. John McCain is co-sponsoring the Honest Ads Act, describing it as a logical extension of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which passed in 2002 and required advertisers to identify themselves in political ads on radio and television.

 

“In the wake of Russia’s attack on the 2016 election, it is more important than ever to strengthen our defenses against foreign interference in our elections,” McCain said in a statement. “Unfortunately U.S. laws requiring transparency in political campaigns have not kept pace with rapid advances in technology, allowing our adversaries to take advantage of these loopholes to influence millions of American voters with impunity.”

 

“I am confident this legislation will modernize existing law to safeguard the integrity of our election system,” McCain added.

 

Facebook reported in September that Russian-linked accounts purchased $150,000 in political ads from June 2015 to May 2017 in a push to heighten tension over issues such as immigration and race. Facebook removed the accounts last month on the basis that they were fake and turned over more than 3,000 ads by these accounts to Congress. According to reports, the accounts gained followers by getting users to click on controversial ads. Once users followed the fake Pages, their feeds could be filled with additional unpaid political content such as posts, videos and photos.

 

Last month, Twitter said it found 201 accounts on its site linked to the fraudulent accounts Facebook had previously identified. Twitter also reported that the Russian-backed news site RT, which a U.S. intelligence report said attempted to meddle in the U.S. election, bought $274,100 of ads on Twitter last year. Under federal law, foreign governments and foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the U.S.

 

The issue of Russia's use of social platforms to interfere in the U.S. election has engulfed various tech giants, most notably Facebook, which has come under withering criticism for its failure to effectively police content and ads on its site. Senate leaders have endorsed earlier findings by the U.S. intelligence community that the Russian president Vladimir Putin led a coordinated campaign to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election. Russian election meddling doesn’t appear to be limited to the U.S. Russian efforts may also have extended to France, the Netherlands and Germany, according to the Senate leaders. Russia may try to meddle in upcoming U.S. elections this year and next, the Senate committee said.

 

Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to appear in a November 1 open hearing about Russian involvement on their platforms. Warner said earlier this week that a number of senators will likely wait until after the Internet companies participate in the hearing before taking a stance on the bill.

 

“Americans deserve to know who is paying for online ads,” Klobuchar said at the press conference. “Honestly, if the Russian interference had not occurred, we should still be updating our laws. Our laws are not as updated as those who are trying to manipulate us.”

 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/10/19/senators-unveil-bill-for-transparent-social-media-ads-after-russian-election-interference/#1f59f71c26fa

 

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Google’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter: the Kremlin’s not-so-happy helpers?

 

Managers at YouTube are troubled by the prolific use of the video-streaming site by RT, a Russian state news organization officially considered in the U.S. to be a propaganda arm of the Russian government, according to a new report.

 

“There is definitely a lot of hand-wringing, but there’s also a lot of, ‘We have to protect this speech,’” a former employee told the Wall Street Journal.

It’s not just Google’s video platform that’s been protecting and promoting the speech of the Russian government — Facebook and Twitter, along with YouTube, are RT’s primary distributors of content, the WSJ reported Tuesday.


U.S. intelligence officials have claimed Russia relied heavily on RT (formerly Russia Today) in alleged attempts to influence the presidential election that lifted Donald Trump to power. RT denies the allegations.

The Russian outlet has racked up some stunning numbers on YouTube, with 2.1 billion views on its main English-language channel and 2.2 million subscribers, “roughly the same figures as CNN’s primary YouTube channel,” according to the WSJ.

 

“RT has drawn an additional 3.3 billion views across roughly 20 other channels, making it among YouTube’s most-watched news networks.”

 

By running ads before RT videos, YouTube gives ad-revenue money to the Russian government news outlet, the WSJ observed.

 

The Russian outlet has about 2.7 million followers on Twitter, which last month pointed at RT in a report on claimed Russian election-interference, and the company has said the outlet spent about $275,000 promoting tweets to U.S. users. RT also has some 4.5 million followers on Facebook.

 

“RT’s popularity on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter shows how the open approach of social-media companies can empower unreliable news sources — from government-backed propaganda outlets to conspiracy theorists to extremist groups,” the WSJ reported.

 

“While the companies ban harassment, hate speech, the promotion of violence and other unsavory posts, they tend to allow unreliable, misleading and highly partisan content, as well as other content that falls in a gray area, in an effort to avoid accusations of censorship and to protect users’ free speech.”

 

YouTube, in a statement to the WSJ, said it removed videos that violate its policies.

 

“We have a wide variety of news channels available on YouTube that represent an array of viewpoints from across the political spectrum,” the company said.

Facebook and Twitter declined to comment to the WSJ.

 

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2017/10/24/googles-youtube-facebook-twitter-kremlins-not-happy-helpers/

 

 

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