By Deepa Seetharaman, Byron Tau and Shane Harris
Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller
detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform
that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to
people familiar with the matter.
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies
of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the
targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter
said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over "the
stored contents of any account," including messages and location
information, in response to a search warrant, some of them
said.
A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel
now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how
social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in
the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasn't shared the same
information with Congress in part because of concerns about
disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S.
privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.
A Facebook spokesman said the company continues to investigate
and is cooperating with U.S. authorities. A spokesman for Mr.
Mueller declined to comment on the investigation.
Last week, Facebook disclosed that it identified about 500
"inauthentic" accounts with ties to Russia that bought $100,000
worth of ads during a two-year period encompassing the presidential
campaign. The company also found $50,000 in ad purchases linked to
Russian accounts. The combined funds purchased more than 5,000 ads
on Facebook, the company said.
The disclosure was Facebook's first acknowledgment that Russians
used its platform to reach U.S. voters during the presidential
campaign. It came about two months after Facebook said it had no
evidence of Russian ad purchases.
In recent weeks, social media's role in disseminating false
information or inflaming public opinion has become a prime focus of
the Senate and House intelligence committees, which are conducting
separate probes into Russia's influence on the election as well as
whether President Donald Trump's campaign or associates colluded
with the Kremlin. The committees are aiming to write comprehensive
public reports on Russian activity during the 2016 campaign.
Russia has denied any interference and Mr. Trump has denied any
collusion.
Twitter Inc. is also expected to speak to congressional
investigators in the coming weeks about Russian activity on its
platform, said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on
the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. A spokeswoman for
Twitter declined to comment on whether the company had received any
warrants or handed anything over related to possible Russian ad
buys.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit said in a statement, "We're always
monitoring for abuse or violations of our policies and we've seen
no evidence this type of ad campaign was run on our platforms." A
person familiar with the matter said the company hasn't been called
to testify on the topic.
Congressional investigators have been frustrated by how little
detail Facebook provided in its briefing to them about the Russian
ad buying, people familiar with the meetings said. In a briefing
with Senate and House staffers last week, Facebook officials showed
half a dozen examples of ads purchased by the Russian groups, the
people said. After the briefing, Facebook staffers retrieved all
the material used in the presentation, leaving staffers with just
their notes, the people said.
Academic researchers and others also have criticized Facebook
for not sharing more about the Russian ad-buying with the public
beyond the roughly 720-word post it published last week. The post
said the majority of the ads Facebook identified didn't reference
the election, voting or either presidential candidate, and mostly
focused on "amplifying divisive social and political messages" on
topics ranging from immigration to gun rights.
Facebook officials are wary of sharing more details with the
public and intelligence committees for fear that public disclosure
of information could disrupt Mr. Mueller's probe, people familiar
with the matter said. Facebook also believes the data about the ads
could be protected under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act,
one of the people said.
Handing over information or sharing it publicly without a valid
legal order also could set a precedent for Facebook that would
complicate its operations in the U.S. and world-wide, including in
more authoritarian countries, the people said.
Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.), chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Warner are discussing plans to
call representatives from Facebook to Capitol Hill to publicly
explain how Russians manipulated the Facebook platform through paid
and free posts to inflame U.S. public opinion and interfere in
domestic politics.
Though negotiations are continuing and no final decision has
been made, a Senate hearing on the role foreign governments played
on social media is likely to be scheduled in coming weeks,
according to the bipartisan leadership of the Senate committee.
Behind the scenes, details are still being worked out about the
hearing, including gathering documents and facts that will inform
the questions asked by members. A person close to the congressional
investigation said both intelligence committees typically seek
voluntary cooperation from potential witnesses before resorting to
subpoenas. A subpoena hasn't been ruled out, that person said.
Congress broadly has the power to subpoena documents and compel
witnesses to appear before its committees to testify as part of a
broad mandate to gather information.
According to Facebook's policy, under U.S. law, a subpoena
directed at the company would only allow access to "basic
subscriber records" for a given account, including its name, when
it was created, credit card information and, if available, the
internet protocol address of where the user or page recently logged
in or out.
A search warrant is a more powerful tool that would compel
Facebook to disclose more detailed information about various
accounts, such as messages, photos, videos, timeline posts, and
location information.
According to a January report from the U.S. intelligence
community, the highest levels of the Russian government were
involved in directing the electoral interference to boost Mr. Trump
at the expense of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Russia's tactics included efforts to hack state election
systems; infiltrating and leaking information from party committees
and political strategists; and disseminating through social media
and other outlets negative stories about Mrs. Clinton and positive
ones about the Mr. Trump, the report said.
--Robert McMillan and Del Quentin Wilber contributed to this
article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 15, 2017 18:44 ET (22:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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