Facebook Denies it Knew of Russian Activity

San Francisco: Facebook on Thursday denied The New York Times report that suggested that the social network was aware of a Russian campaign designed to influence the 2016 US presidential election as early as spring of 2016. “In the final months of Mr. (Donald) Trump’s presidential campaign, Russian agents escalated a yearlong effort to hack and harass his Democratic opponents, culminating in the release of thousands of emails stolen from prominent Democrats and party officials,” said the Times report on Wednesday.

“FB had said nothing publicly about any problems on its own platform. But in the spring of 2016, a company expert on Russian cyberwarfare spotted something worrisome,” the report added. Facebook said the post remained because it did not break the company’s Community Standards “for the same reasons The New York Times and many other organizations covered the news: Donald Trump was a candidate running for office.” “To suggest that the internal debate around this particular case was different from other important free speech issues on Facebook is wrong,” Facebook said. (IANS)

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