US House Intel Committee Preparing to Publish Russia-Linked Ads - Reports

05:07 GMT, 7 May 2018

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Democratic Party members of the Intelligence Committee of the US House of Representatives are preparing to release 3,000 Facebook ads that were allegedly funded by Russia-linked entities, according to media reports.

Sputnik

The ads bought by St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency may be released within a week or later, depending on the negotiations between politicians and Facebook, the Wall Street Journal daily reported on Sunday, citing sources.

The members of the congressional panel and the internet giant are reportedly arguing on what information can be revealed about the users who liked the ads, commented on them or shared them.

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In March, the United States put sanctions on the Internet Research Agency and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. In February, the company was indicted by the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating the alleged Russian attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook said in January that it found only an "insignificant" overlap between content published by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) and the campaign team of now US President Donald Trump prior to the US presidential election in 2016. Russian officials have repeatedly rejected the allegations of Moscow tampering with the US election as unfounded.