Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone<br />Google, in its prepared statement, said it had also found evidence<br />that the Internet Research Agency bought ads on its services and created YouTube channels to upload short videos about divisive social issues including law enforcement, race relations or Syria.<br />The detailed disclosures, sent to Congress on Monday by companies whose products are among the most widely used on the internet, came before a series of congressional hearings this week into how third parties used social networks<br />and online services to influence millions of Americans before the 2016 presidential election.<br />“That means that for most of them, if they had been run by authentic individuals, anywhere, they could have remained on the platform.”<br />Earlier this month, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner introduced a bipartisan bill to require<br />internet companies to identify those who paid for political ads on the tech companies’ platforms.<br />Google said the group had bought $4,700 in ads but none of them had targeted users by their<br />political leanings, which was a targeting tool that Google added before the election.
