See the Russia Ads at the Center of the Storm

Congress has released some of the ads apparently bought by Russians to inflame and influence voters around last year's presidential election. Facebook reported discovering the ads earlier this year but said it would leave their disclosure up to investigators. Congress has now released a batch as testimony by Facebook, Google and Twitter about election interference continued on Capitol Hill. Russian operatives bought the ads under cover of front groups designed to look like American advocates on all sides, according to Facebook. The groups, with names like Heart of Texas and Blactivist, amassed followers and fomented tensions, in one case over a mosque in Houston where they called both opponents and defenders to rallies. Facebook has called many of the messages "vile." They mostly violate rules about using fake identities to create accounts and buy ads. Facebook, Twitter and Google have promised more transparency and disclosure around who buys political ads on their platforms. Here are some of the ads that Facebook says were bought by Russian fronts:

See the Russia Ads at the Center of the Storm

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