Google initially tried to distance itself from the scrutiny Facebook is facing regarding ads that were bought by Russian agents on the social media platform to interfere with the 2016 Election. The search giant claimed that the company has always monitored for any abuse and violations of their policies by users. However, Google still conducted an investigation nonetheless.
Upon investigation, the Washington Post reported that Google discovered some evidence that Russian agents indeed use their platforms to spread false information to mess with the election, platforms such as YouTube and Gmail, among others.
The search engine giant was able to make the connection after downloading data from Twitter's historical Tweets made on the platform, which Twitter gives away for free to developers.
Google will now provide assistance to the investigation
Google started their investigation after Congress pressured tech companies to learn what tools the Russian agents likely used to spread their misinformation to the internet.
Google said in a statement, “We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries,” cited in the report of The Washington Post.
Google is reviewing $100,000 worth of ads bought on their platform to find out if it came from accounts related to the Internet Research Agency, which is a Russian-government affiliated troll farm.
Russian agents employed YouTubers to destroy Hillary Clinton’s image
As part of the Russian operatives to interfere with the 2016 election, they also recruited YouTubers to spread false information about Donald Trump’s opponent – Hillary Clinton, according to a report by the Daily Beast.
The report cited that Russian agents employed the services of two African-American video bloggers named Williams and Kevin Johnson to appeal to the African-American audience.
They said that “they [Clintons] are serial killers who are going to rape the whole nation,” they also added that Clinton’s campaign was “funded by the Muslims.”
Most of their videos are promotions to vote for Trump. Prior to the election, one video described Clinton as a “[expletive] racist.” The two bloggers, in contrast, described Trump as a businessman and a businessman cannot be a racist to keep his business from bellying up.
After it was learned that they were funded by Russian operatives, their content was pulled from Facebook, in addition to the suspension of their Twitter accounts.
