Nov 22, 2017 - Economy

Facebook will tell users if they followed Russian pages

David McCabe

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Jeff Roberson / AP

Facebook will tell users whether they followed pages set up by Russian operatives as part of a broad campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. The company, along with Twitter and Google, have faced pressure from lawmakers to be more transparent about how far the Russian ads, pages and propaganda spread on their platforms and who was exposed to it.

The details: The social network said Wednesday that it will create a page on its support website that will tell a user which pages and accounts they followed on Facebook and Instagram that have been linked to a Russian troll farm involved in the election campaign. Users will also be able to see when they followed the account.

The announcement coincides with the deadline to respond to a letter from Sen. Richard Blumenthal asking the company to "individually notify any and all users who received or interacted with these advertisements and associated content." He also sent letters to Google and Twitter.

What they're not doing: Telling users whether they were exposed to content from the pages in their Newsfeed, even if they didn't follow them. Users may have seen content that spread organically or as a result of a paid ad. Facebook has argued that it's especially difficult to be able to show that information.

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Facebook will tell users if they followed Russian pages

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