1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: The probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the election 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: and possible links to President Trump's associates is said to 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,720 Speaker 1: have a red hot focus on social media, according to 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: US officials familiar with the matter. We're talking now to 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: Larry Liebert, He's a Bloomberg News Best National Security editor 6 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: about this story. So, Larry, what do we know about 7 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: the Muller probe and its focus on social media? Well, 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: we do know that they're considering it a very important aspect. 9 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: They're pursuing it aggressively. Is Bloomberg's christ Rome just disclosed? Uh? 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: And what we know about the underlying issue was highlighted 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: last week when Facebook revealed that it found about one 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars in ads spending last year connected to 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: fake accounts that probably were run from Russia and these 14 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: That's not a huge amount, but there is a multiplier 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: effect of course of social media and people retweaked messages 16 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: are are like messages on Facebook plus. Um, there seems 17 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: to be an underlying theme that Russia wants to undercut UH, 18 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: US democracy in any way I can so this This 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: has implications not only for the probo what happened last 20 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: year in the election, but what may happen UH next 21 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: year in the mid term elections in the future. Was 22 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: anyone looking into social media companies and Russia before the election, Well, 23 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: there was, there were was not as much of an 24 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: UH of a focus then, UH there was more of 25 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: a focus on these emails that were released. But even 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: then there was some question about what the social media 27 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: networks were picking up the whole issue that, as our 28 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: president now calls its fake news, and how that was 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: spread and multiplied. UH. Facebook right after the election, UH 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: dismissed the idea that they had any roles Zuckerberg Mark 31 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: Zuckerberg their chief, But they've turned around on that and 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: the US investigators have to although before the election there's 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: a sense they didn't have enough information to really focus 34 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: on this. According to the story, the Director of National 35 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: Intelligence Dan Coates said at the Cybersecurity Summit today, Russia 36 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: has clearly assumed an even more aggressive cyber posture by 37 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: increasing cyber espionage operations and leaking data stolen from those operations. 38 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: Is it very difficult as far as finding out about 39 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: how this social media works in international espionage, Well, it 40 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: has been difficult, partly because you have so many layers 41 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: to hide behind, but they're clearly is going to be 42 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: more of an effort by US intelligence going forward. Uh, 43 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,679 Speaker 1: there's certainly more of an effort as well by our 44 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: European allies and others who are seeing Russian influence under 45 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: their elections and to shape their news feeds. And according 46 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: to the story, another hurdle with the government responding is 47 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: that there are constitutional concerns about intelligence agencies monitoring social media. 48 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: Facebook refused to hand over to some of the intelligence 49 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: committees that are looking into it the the ads. Now, 50 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: I don't what what is the argument since the ads 51 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: were published on Facebook. It's sort of like a newspaper saying, well, 52 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: we're not going to give you that article that we 53 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: already published. Well, some of it is, of course here 54 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: they're saying, these are the ones that we have traced 55 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: to Russian sources, to Russian addresses, and they are understandably 56 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: reluctant to be pointing fingers at users and uh and 57 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: disclosing information right and left. The legal requirements to disclose 58 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: for social media are are arguably not the same as 59 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: they were for television commercials or radio commercials, where the 60 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: rules were established a long go. So that Congress are 61 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: going to be looking at that going forward. Was it 62 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: Robert Mueller's investigators who first found this link? Well, some 63 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: of it is, UH. They may have happened upon some 64 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: of this earlier. There are indications they're not talking publicly 65 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: of course, for our sources indicate that they have it 66 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: increasingly focused on focused on it. Some of these messages 67 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: weren't directly related at what the intelligence community says was 68 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: an effort to her Hillary Clinton and helped Trump. They 69 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: seem to just be distributing uh efforts to confuse democracy, 70 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: really to to feed divisions in the country. So it's 71 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: a very amorphous thing and they're only beginning to get 72 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: their hands around it right now. Senator Mark Warner is 73 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: calling it the wild wild West and the tip of 74 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: the iceberg. Do you see in your reporting and that 75 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: of your colleagues that there is more to come on this, 76 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: More social media companies involved. Well, absolutely, they're going to 77 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: be more increased. Twitter hasn't yet come forward, and there 78 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: are indications that the intelligence committees want them as well 79 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: as Facebook UH to provide what information they have, and 80 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: you will have this delicate dance of privacy and respect 81 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: for their users versus the need to share information on 82 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: what could have been a very major hospital intelligence operation. 83 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: It sounds like it's getting more and more complicated as 84 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: we get closer the midterms, instead of getting clearer. Thank 85 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: you so much for your report on this. This is 86 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: a Bloomberg exclusive, and that's Larry Liebert, Bloomberg News National 87 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: Security Editor. A story was written by Chris Strom.