Group Bought Ads Posing as Russian Trolls

BuzzFeed: “Researchers from the advocacy group the Campaign for Accountability — which has frequently targeted Google with its ‘transparency project’ investigations and has received funding from Google competitor Oracle — posed as Kremlin-linked trolls and successfully purchased divisive online ads using Google’s ad platform and targeted them toward Americans. In an attempt to trigger Google’s safeguards against such efforts, the researchers purchased the advertisements using the name and identifying details of the Internet Research Agency — a Kremlin-linked troll farm that’s been the subject of numerous congressional hearings.

“The advertisements appeared on the YouTube channels and websites of media brands like CNN, CBS This Morning, HuffPost, and the Daily Beast. … The ads used language and images identical to that of Russia’s Internet Research Agency troll farm.”