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Facebook, Twitter Find Russian Activity to Churn Out Propaganda

Facebook, Google, and Twitter are set to testify before a congressional subcommittee on Russia's attempt to use social media to influence last year's election.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Russian efforts to influence American society over social media may have reached more than half the country's voting population, according to new findings that'll be presented to Congress today.

Facebook, for instance, found that 126 million users in the country may have been exposed to 80,000 divisive political posts written by a Kremlin-back Russian company, according to The New York Times.

Twitter uncovered over 36,000 accounts possibly linked with Russia that generated 1.4 million automated election-related tweets, according to a source familiar with the company's upcoming testimony. Those tweets received 288 million impressions.

Google, on the other hand, found 1,108 videos on YouTube probably associated with a suspected Russian campaign to spread propaganda. The videos attracted 309,000 views in the US.

More details will be presented during today's congressional hearing on Russian interference in last year's election. Representatives from all three US tech companies are set to testify.

Facebook will reportedly disclose that a Russian company called the Internet Research Agency controlled 470 accounts to publish the 80,000 posts. Those posts were served directly to 29 million users, and then liked, shared, or followed by others, magnifying their spread.

Russia's Internet Research Agency, which is notorious for being an internet troll farm, also spent $100,000 to display 3,000 ads on the platform with divisive political and social messages, Facebook claimed last month.

Twitter also tracked over 2,700 users accounts to the Russian company, up from the 201 accounts it initially reported last month. All the accounts have been suspended. In addition, Twitter identified over 36,000 accounts found generating automated election-related content that possessed "at least one characteristic" associated with Russian user accounts.

Although the accounts produced 1.4 million tweets, that only represented 0.74 percent of overall election-related tweets during the Sept. 1 to Nov. 15 time period, according to Twitter's upcoming testimony.

Despite Facebook's and Twitter's attempts to crack down on the abuse, US lawmakers remain concerned that foreign governments will try to spread propaganda over their platforms in future elections. That may put Silicon Valley and Washington at odds over attempts to regulate social media.

However, both Facebook and Twitter are taking steps to add more transparency to their online political ad business, including who buys what. Last week, Twitter banned two Russian media groups from advertising on the platform over concerns they were spreading Kremlin-back propaganda.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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