Facebook to provide Congress with info on Russian-bought ads
Social media giant admits accounts with ties to Russia used site; senior correspondent Adam Housley reports from Los Angeles
In a tweet on Friday morning, President Donald Trump intimated that the Facebook ad controversy was part of the "Russia hoax" dispute that has been a sore spot for his administration.
"The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook," the President tweeted. "What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?"
Trump's Facebook-related tweet was part of a larger "tweetstorm" this morning, slamming Sen. Rand Paul over healthcare, Kim Jong Un and the North Korea regime, and the aforementioned "Russia hoax."
FACEBOOK WILL RELEASE RUSSIA-LINKED ADS TO CONGRESS, MARK ZUCKERBERG SAYS
On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social network would hand over to Congress the political ads purchased by Russian operatives.
Coming back from paternity leave after the birth of his second child, Zuckerberg held a Facebook Live chat and said the company would "strengthen our ad review process for political ads."
One senior source familiar with discussions told Fox News there is a “deal” with Facebook. However, another senior source close to the negotiation disputes says there is no agreement on the breadth of material Facebook may provide.
Separately on Thursday, Facebook wrote a blog post outlining the steps it would be taking.
“After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators,” wrote Colin Stretch, the company’s general counsel. “We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election.”
FACEBOOK UNCOVERS $100K IN FAKE AD SPENDING TIED TO RUSSIAN OPERATIVES DURING 2016 US ELECTION
Earlier this month, Facebook uncovered approximately $100,000 spread over approximately 3,000 ads in fraudulent ad spending across its network tied to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia. Fox News' Brooke Singman and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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