Michigan and Wisconsin — two states that proved pivotal in President Donald Trump's election victory — were specifically targeted in a number of Russia-linked Facebook ads, CNN reported Tuesday.
According to the news outlet, which cited four unnamed sources, the ads employed a series of divisive messages, including anti-Muslim ones, in an attempt to sway voters in the battleground states.
CNN said it was not specified by its sources when the ads ran in the two states.
Facebook has acknowledged about one-quarter of the 3,000 Russian-bought ads were targeted to specific geographic locations, but did not provide locations. Facebook estimates the ads, in total, were seen by 10 million people.
"Obviously, we're looking at any of the targeting of the ads, as well as any targeting of efforts to push out the fake or false news or negative accounts against Hillary Clinton, to see whether they demonstrate a sophistication that would be incompatible with not having access to data analytics from the campaign," Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN. "At this point, we still don't know."
Schiff said the committee was planning to investigate ads that suggested Muslims supported Clinton, and how those were geared to people who had online activity that suggested they were critical of Islam.
Republicans and Democrats have acknowledged the sophistication in the Russian ad campaign.
"It's consistent with everything else we've seen in terms of Russian active measures – a combination of cyber, of propaganda, and paid social media," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the No. 2 Republican who sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary panels. "So, we're just looking at the tip of the iceberg."
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