21 September, 2017
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.
Facebook says the company will provide the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency to congressional investigators.
He also called on other tech companies to follow Facebook's lead, and cooperate more closely on election integrity. "As our biannual transparency reports make clear, we carefully scrutinize all government data requests, from here and overseas, and we push back where they do not adhere to those legal limitations".
The ads will not become public unless Congress chooses to release them. "The American people deserve to know the truth about Russia's interference in the 2016 election", Warner said in the tweet.
Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said in a separate blog post that the social network does not disclose content lightly under any circumstances, but that the company wants to help protect the integrity of USA elections.
The company is has also shared information about the ads with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office, according to Politico, and is expected to reveal more information about the ads. In essence, this will make it possible for a user to click through on an ad that targeted her or him, and then see what other kinds of messages the advertiser is using to target other demographic audiences.
Zuckerberg said Facebook will also hire more staff to work on election security, collaborate with election commissions worldwide, and share threat intelligence with other social media companies.
