The media’s Russia-Trump collusion narrative continued to collapse this week, after Facebook officials told Congressional investigators that nearly half of the 10 million users “exposed” to Russian-backed advertisements didn’t see the material until after the 2016 election.
Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s Vice President of Policy and Communications, told lawmakers that 56% of ads appeared on the social media giant’s webpage after Election Day, with 44% appearing on the site before November.
Facebook recently supplied Congress with approximately 3,000 paid advertisements with links to Russian-backed firms or organizations. The technology giant informed investigators that the ads cost roughly $100,000, and believe they were purchased by Kremlin supported sources to siphon votes away from Hillary Clinton and towards Donald Trump.
“Roughly 25% of the ads were never shown to anyone,” Schrage added. “That’s because advertising auctions are designed so that ads reach people based on relevance, and certain ads may not reach anyone as a result.”
“Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,” Schrage said. “A number of them appear to encourage people to follow Pages on these issues.”
Doomed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has routinely blamed Facebook –as well as a host of other external factors- for her surprising defeat to Donald Trump last fall. The former Secretary of State claims that Russia, using Facebook, twitter, and other forms of social media, colluded with President Trump to steal the 2016 election.
h/t Daily Caller