Mark Zuckerberg pledged Thursday to make Facebook political advertisements more transparent and to give information on thousands of Russia-linked ads to election meddling investigators.
The platform with 2 billion users announced earlier this month that pages linked to the former Soviet Union spent $50,000 buying political ads on issues such as immigration and gun rights leading up to last year’s election.
Zuckerberg originally denied that disinformation on his ubiquitous invention had played a role in the election of President Trump and others last November.
But the 33-year-old billionaire wunderkind, who’s rumored to have his own political ambitions, used his Facebook Live video streaming platform on Thursday to say, “I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy.”
He unveiled nine steps he is going to take to “protect election integrity.”
Zuckerberg said that he is releasing information on 3,000 Russian ads to Congress, and added that Facebook had already made the data available to the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading his own probe into election meddling and any potential collusion from Americans.
Though Facebook previously kept quiet about what the ads said, Zuckerberg said when announcing his move that he expects legislators to publish their findings, leaving open the possibility that Facebook users will get to see what the alleged influence attempts looked like in practice.
A joint report from U.S. intelligence agencies this January included a large section about the Kremlin using social media in an attempt to swing the election towards President Trump.
Reports last week also showed that Facebook, along with other technology companies such as Google and Twitter, allow those advertising to cater specifically to certain hate groups such as those who identify as “Jew haters.”
Zuckerberg said that, similar to political spots on television or the radio, ads on Facebook will now have to disclose what page is paying for them.
His company will also begin working on allowing users to see what advertisements pages are sending to other users, conceivably allowing anyone to see if a group is targeting those with hateful ideologies.
Facebook’s other post-election promises include continuing its own investigation into possible political abuse, starting “proactive” measures to promote democracy, such as voter registration initiatives and enhanced security.
The social network said earlier this month that close to 500 “inauthentic accounts” had been removed after its election-related review.
Congress hoped for more cooperation from the tech giant. The House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, California Rep. Adam Schiff, said the information “should help us better understand what happened.”
Schiff said he also Facebook execs, as well as representatives from other Silicon Valley stalwarts such as Google and Twitter, to testify in open hearings.
