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Facebook to Hand Over Russian 2016 Election Ads to Congress

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WASHINGTON – Facebook has agreed to hand over to Congress the content of some 3,000 ads thought to be linked to the Russian attempt to undermine the 2016 election.

Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke the news Thursday in an on-camera announcement.

He said Facebook will now operate in a "higher standard of transparency."

The social media giant has already released the ads to authorities investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election but this latest move comes as lawmakers continue to pressure the company to release their content.

Senators Amy Klobucher, D-Minn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., both on the Senate Intelligence Committee, are proposing legislation that would require social media companies to give more information about political ads and the buyers behind them – similar to television broadcasters.

Warner told the Associated Press he hopes to be able to work with social media companies on the bill.

In a first step toward greater transparency, Zuckerberg said political ads will now have to link to the buyer's Facebook page and users will then be able to see all of the adds that buyer is running on the platform.

On top of releasing the content of these ads, the Senate Intelligence Committee has called on Facebook executives to testify.

President Trump responded to the Facebook news on Twitter Friday morning, tweeting, "The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?"

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