2016 ELECTION/CYBERWAR/FAKE NEWS/MEDIA/RUSSIA: “Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was the beneficiary of at least one of the Russian-bought political ads on Facebook that federal government officials suspect were intended to influence the 2016 election.
Other advertisements paid for by shadowy Russian buyers criticized Hillary Clinton and promoted Donald Trump. Some backed Bernie Sanders and his platform even after his presidential campaign had ended, according to a person with knowledge of the ads.
The pro-Stein ad came late in the political campaign and pushed her candidacy for president, this person said…
The ads show a complicated effort that didn’t necessarily hew to promoting Trump and bashing Clinton. Instead, they show a desire to create divisions while sometimes praising Trump, Sanders and Stein. A number of the ads seemed to question Clinton’s authenticity and tout some of the liberal criticisms of her candidacy.
There is no indication Stein, Sanders or Trump was aware of the advertisements, which were described to POLITICO by people with knowledge of them…
U.S. officials are investigating whether about 3,000 ads purchased on Facebook by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency might have been part of a larger Russian government scheme to meddle in the 2016 election.
The number of ads bought by Russians on the site is far less than 1 percent of all election spending, and it is unclear how many people even saw the advertisements. The social network has estimated the total cost of the ads at $150,000.”
-Josh Dawsey, “Russian-funded Facebook ads backed Stein, Sanders and Trump,” Politico, Sept. 26, 2017 10:40pm