Sheryl Sandberg Says Facebook Will Reveal How Russia Targeted U.S. Voters

Oct 12 2017, 12:24 pm ET
by Claire Atkinson

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said Thursday that the social network would reveal how Russia-linked groups targeted Americans with ads that were designed to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and tip it to Donald Trump.

The action means that Facebook may be able to help explain to Congress which groups of people and geographic areas were the targets of the Russian ads, and who precisely paid for them. The company has already turned over about 3,000 ads that ran on its platform to congressional investigators, but they have not yet been made public.

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On Sunday, the Trump campaign's digital director, Brad Parscale, bragged to CBS News about how he used Facebook.

“I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win,” he told "60 Minutes." He revealed that Facebook had embedded staff in the Trump campaign to help them use the targeting.

Parscale revealed the campaign made hundreds of thousands of ads, changing language and colors to best appeal to individuals.

The Trump campaign used Cambridge Analytica, a firm backed by Trump supporter Robert Mercer, which blended its own database of information on American voters with Facebook to find swing voters or discourage people from voting at all.

•••••

On Sunday, the Trump campaign's digital director, Brad Parscale, bragged to CBS News about how he used Facebook.

“I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win,” he told "60 Minutes." He revealed that Facebook had embedded staff in the Trump campaign to help them use the targeting.

Parscale revealed the campaign made hundreds of thousands of ads, changing language and colors to best appeal to individuals.

The Trump campaign used Cambridge Analytica, a firm backed by Trump supporter Robert Mercer, which blended its own database of information on American voters with Facebook to find swing voters or discourage people from voting at all.