Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over “the stored contents of any account,” including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.
A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasn’t shared the same information with Congress in part because of concerns about disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S. privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.
This is interesting because not only does it mean that Muller's team might be able to follow the money to identify exactly who these Russian ad buyers might be, but also how they are connected to Vladimir Putin.
They might also be able to use the information to determine who these ads targeted, and how they were spread across the social media landscape.
And personally I don't blame Facebook for holding back from Congress. I simply do not trust the Republicans in charge of that investigation.
Source http://ift.tt/2yf9rBV
