Facebook wasn’t the only target of the Russians during the 2016 elections. It turns out they spent a lot of money on Google ads as well:
NY POST – Google has discovered that Russian agents spent thousands of dollars to buy ads on the tech giant’s many platforms to spread false information during the 2016 presidential election, according to a report on Monday.
The discovery marks the first time the Silicon Valley behemoth has confirmed Russian-linked ads were distributed across its many products – including YouTube, Gmail and DoubleClick – the Washington Post reported.
But the ads do not appear to come from the same Kremlin-affiliated troll farms that bought thousands of ads on Facebook intended to distribute disinformation online about the election, the report said.
The ads on Google, which cost around $100,000, supported Donald Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Green party candidate Jill Stein, the report said, while others promoted anti-immigration stands and racial hatred.
Google has turned over the ads to Congress but said they won’t be making them public.