WEBVTT - Social Networks and Election Interference

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<v Speaker 1>Between June two thousand fifteen and May two thousand seventeen,

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred seventy Facebook accounts purporting to be legitimate American

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<v Speaker 1>organizations flooded Facebook with political ads. The big problem these

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<v Speaker 1>profiles linked back to Russia. I'm John and Strickland and

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<v Speaker 1>this is tech stuff Daily. Let's start at the beginning.

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<v Speaker 1>In two thousand fifteen, as the road to the election

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<v Speaker 1>was solidifying, political ads and related content found their way

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<v Speaker 1>on all major forms of media. That includes everything from

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<v Speaker 1>billboards on the side of the highway up to expensive television.

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<v Speaker 1>Add time, social networks like Facebook were also popular platforms.

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<v Speaker 1>An ongoing investigation into the ten election and the possibility

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<v Speaker 1>that foreign powers interfered with it uncovered an issue with

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<v Speaker 1>some of those ads. A collection of them on Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>numbering more than three thousand ads in tow total, came

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<v Speaker 1>not from legitimate sources in America, but rather from Russian accounts.

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<v Speaker 1>Those three thousand ads may have reached as many as

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<v Speaker 1>ten million people and yet cost only one thousand dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a pretty big reach for relatively small investment, and

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<v Speaker 1>considering the goal was to influence the outcome of a

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<v Speaker 1>major election, it's a real wake up call. But wait,

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<v Speaker 1>it gets worse. According to the Pew Research Center, of

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<v Speaker 1>Americans get their news from Facebook rather than from traditional

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<v Speaker 1>sources like newspapers or television, and researchers have been looking

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<v Speaker 1>into how clickbait sites use tools like Facebook's early ads

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<v Speaker 1>spending to get widespread notice. By spending some money on Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>you can boost a post's reach to hit a larger audience.

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<v Speaker 1>Numerous clickbait sites, which exists solely to rack up as

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<v Speaker 1>many page views as possible, use these tactics to entice

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<v Speaker 1>people into clicking on various articles, and both the Russian

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<v Speaker 1>ads and the clickbait articles tend to rely heavily on

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<v Speaker 1>some ugly tactics. The ads, for example, didn't focus so

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<v Speaker 1>much on specific candidates. Perhaps this was the Russian actor's

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<v Speaker 1>attempts to create a plausible distance between Russia and the

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<v Speaker 1>specific people running for office. Instead, the ads focused on

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<v Speaker 1>divisive issues, including ones about racial equality, gay rights, gun control, immigration,

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<v Speaker 1>and similar subjects. Most of the ads didn't point at

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<v Speaker 1>a specific candidate to support or oppose, but implied very

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<v Speaker 1>heavily a support for Donald Trump as president. And so

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<v Speaker 1>we now have an investigation looking at Facebook as well

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<v Speaker 1>as other online platforms including Google and Twitter, to see

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<v Speaker 1>how foreign agents may have used those platforms in order

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<v Speaker 1>to sway the American public to support or oppose particular candidates.

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<v Speaker 1>The evidence seems to suggest that this sort of hanky

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<v Speaker 1>panky was definitely happening. The extent of its effectiveness is

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<v Speaker 1>still up for debate. Facebook's chief operating officer, Cheryl san Berg,

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<v Speaker 1>has said the company apologizes for its permissive ad policies.

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<v Speaker 1>She also says that people at Facebook are sad and

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<v Speaker 1>angry that their tools have been used to manipulate voters.

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<v Speaker 1>According to some x Facebook employees who spoke with Variety

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<v Speaker 1>on the subject, many feel a deep sense of regret

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<v Speaker 1>for having developed the tools in the first place. To

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<v Speaker 1>be a little fair to Facebook, the company is a business.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a business that makes its revenue from advertising. Add

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<v Speaker 1>companies pay Facebook to serve ads up against the social

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<v Speaker 1>media content on the site. From a purely financial standpoint,

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook had little incentive to look too closely at any

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<v Speaker 1>particular ad. After all, that was money coming into the company.

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<v Speaker 1>Why look a gift horse in the mouth. In the

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<v Speaker 1>wake of this scandal, Facebook is taking steps to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure similar scenarios don't play out in the future. There's

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<v Speaker 1>another election coming up in eighteen in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>and Facebook doesn't want to repeat of sixteen. To that end,

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<v Speaker 1>the company is hiring one thousand people to help hand

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<v Speaker 1>review ads that are political in nature or ones that

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<v Speaker 1>target issues like racial equality. The reviews will attempt to

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<v Speaker 1>determine the real origin for such ads and make sure

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<v Speaker 1>foreign entities aren't meddling in the political affairs of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States. Facebook's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, has said

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<v Speaker 1>that the company's goal is to create automated technical solutions

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<v Speaker 1>to this problem. Facebook is an enormous platform that serves

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<v Speaker 1>more than a billion people. At that scale, reviewing everything

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<v Speaker 1>by hand isn't really feasible or practical, but the company

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<v Speaker 1>needs to make sure that the automated approach is a

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<v Speaker 1>really reliable approach before handing over the controls. Meanwhile, Russia

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<v Speaker 1>has denied all allegations that any state agents were responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for meddling, and Donald Trump's administration has dismissed any suggestion

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<v Speaker 1>of collusion, and Facebook's general counsel is preparing to stand

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<v Speaker 1>in front of an investigative panel acting on behalf of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States House of Representatives. The panel also expects

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<v Speaker 1>to hear from representatives from Google and Twitter on the matter,

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<v Speaker 1>and that will all begin on November one. You as

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<v Speaker 1>politicians have started to formulate demands that social networking sites

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<v Speaker 1>disclose who is actually funding online political advertising. The industry

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<v Speaker 1>is mobilizing efforts to put lobbyists and lawyers in place

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<v Speaker 1>to help shape any potential legislation and presumably minimize the

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<v Speaker 1>financial impact the companies would encounter as a result of

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<v Speaker 1>new laws. The bottom line is that while the Internet

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<v Speaker 1>continues to play an increasingly important role as a source

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<v Speaker 1>of information, there are not nearly as many measures in

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<v Speaker 1>place to guide how that information is funded and rolled

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<v Speaker 1>out to an audience. The question now is will social

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<v Speaker 1>media companies find ways to address this problem that will

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<v Speaker 1>stave off regulatory legislation. That's all for today. To learn

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<v Speaker 1>more about the power of social media and everything else

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<v Speaker 1>tech related, subscribe to the Tech Stuff podcast. I'll see

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<v Speaker 1>you again soon.