UK MP asks Facebook about Russian-linked ads in Brexit vote

A British parliamentary committee investigating “fake news” and suspected foreign interference in politics says it has asked Facebook for details on Russian-linked ads used during the Brexit vote and June’s general election.

Damian Collins, the chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, says the information he requested was similar to that already provided by the social media giant to US Senate committees looking into last year’s US presidential election.

In the letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Collins notes that his committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into the “phenomenon of fake news.”

“Part of this inquiry will focus on the role of foreign actors abusing platforms such as yours to interfere in the political discourse of other nations,” he says. “It is for this reason that I am requesting that Facebook provides to my committee details relating to any adverts and pages paid for, or set up by, Russia-linked accounts.”

— AFP