The government has been investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. elections ever since Donald Trump became president. Facebook has now, following pressure from both Congress and the general public, decided to disclose the content of nearly 3,000 Russian-linked ads to contribute to the investigative effort. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, despite his previous defensiveness about fake news on Facebook influencing the election results, released a statement outlining 9 measures Facebook will be working on over the next few months to minimize foreign meddling in national elections. Zuckerberg pledges to do his part “to ensure the integrity of free and fair elections around the world, but also to give everyone a voice and to be a force for good in democracy everywhere.”
President Trump has denied all allegations that tie his election victory to Russian interference, so his revival of the “Russia hoax” label as a response to Facebook’s cooperation with Congress to prove Russian involvement in his campaign is no surprise. Trump took to Twitter to not only dissociate his victory from Russian investigation but also to attack his former running opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
The greatest influence over our election was the Fake News Media “screaming” for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Next, she was a bad candidate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
Multiple advisors to the president, including Jon Huntsman, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Russia, have agreed that there is no dissent on the question of whether the Russians interfered with the 2016 election. Trump being alone in his denial of Russian interference is only expected. Besides, why would he condemn the incident that helped put him in the White House?
Photo: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr
