Google Reportedly Finds Russian-Bought Ads On Search, YouTube, DoubleClick

After analyzing data, Google has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited its platforms to interfere in the 2016 election, one media outlet reports.

Sources tell The Washington Post that "tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation" across Google's products such as Gmail, Search, YouTube, and its DoubleClick ad network.

Google previously denied finding evidence of political ad-related interference on its platforms, but people familiar with the investigation say the company is looking at a series of ads that cost less than $100,000, which came from either trolls or legitimate Russian accounts.

Google did not confirm or deny the report, but rather pointed to "a set of strict ad policies including limits on political ad targeting and prohibitions on targeting based on race and religion."

A Google spokesperson wrote in an email to Search Marketing Daily that the company is "taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries."

The alleged ads bought on Google were not from the same organization that purchased the 3,000 ads on Facebook, according to the report.

Facebook published a blog post on September 6, 2017 revealing that the company found about $100,000 in ad purchases between June 2015 and May 2017 — associated with roughly 3,000 ads connected to about 470 inauthentic accounts and pages in violation of it policies. The ads were likely bought by people operating in Russia.

Twitter also found links to hundreds of Russian-backed accounts. The company announced Thursday that company executives are talking with congressional committees with respect to investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. It's an ongoing process.

Based on Twitter's findings after analyzing three accounts related to Russia — @RT_com, @RT_America, and @ActualidadRT — these accounts spent about $274,100 in U.S. ads in 2016 promoting 1,823 tweets that "definitely or potentially targeted the U.S. market." The campaigns were targeted at followers of mainstream media and primarily promoted RT Tweets regarding news stories, according to Twitter.

9 comments about "Google Reportedly Finds Russian-Bought Ads On Search, YouTube, DoubleClick".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, October 9, 2017 at 10:58 a.m.

    No one can be happy about any degree of Russian interference in our election process. However, the amounts mentioned so far are very tiny---even if concentrated in five or ten critical "swing states". Hundreds of millions of dollars would be alarming, but thousands of dollars is a rather small effort in my book. Were the Russians dabbling or just testing the waters? I would like to see some research from voters regarding how many of them encountered these ads? Why isn't that being done?

  2. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, October 9, 2017 at 11:04 a.m.

    I wonder how many voters actually relied on social media to decide their 2016 vote. Not many, I suspect, especially with all the early voting that occurred. 

  3. Henry Blaufox from Dragon360 replied, October 9, 2017 at 11:17 a.m.

    Agreed, Ed. Glad someone else notices that impact is probably nonexistent.

  4. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, October 9, 2017 at 12:04 p.m.

    There is never one cockeroach.

  5. Phillip Nones from Mullin/Ashley Associates, Inc., October 9, 2017 at 2:03 p.m.

    Is the cockeroach related to the cocker spaniel?

  6. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited replied, October 9, 2017 at 3:29 p.m.

    Maybe, especially with my typping skills. 

  7. Brian Kelly from brian brands, October 10, 2017 at 11:10 a.m.

    On :60, Parcsale claimed $94M.  Who were planners, who were buyers, who executed content?

  8. Brian Kelly from brian brands, October 10, 2017 at 11:52 a.m.

    more like $154M  https://medium.com/startup-grind/how-the-trump-campaign-built-an-identity-database-and-used-facebook-ads-to-win-the-election-4ff7d24269ac

  9. Patrick Stroh from Brunner / data science, analytics, October 13, 2017 at 4:52 p.m.

    It's all part of an elaborate A/B, mulivariate, 1-armed bandit ad test, optimized by AI, deep learning, and AR/VR for maximum impact.

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