Federal Government Information Technology

Tech Giants Didn’t Spot Russia Paying For 2016 Disinformation With Rubles

NextGov: The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee lambasts Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s “belated and uncoordinated response” to Russia’s attack on the 2016 presidential election in a report to be released Monday, according to a draft obtained by the Washington Post.

In a damning sign of their incompetence, the Silicon Valley giants apparently didn’t pick up on the fact that disinformation agents from Russia’s Internet Research Agency bought ads on their platforms in rubles, used Russian phone numbers as contact information, and left technical clues that they were based in St Petersburg. It’s unclear from the Post’s report which of the three companies this applies to; the full report is expected to land later today.

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