When they're not capitalizing on Snapchat's innovations, it appears Facebook has another source of income. Any guesses?
Anyone??
Oh yeah, baby. The Russians.
New reports have come to light stating that the tech monstrosity sold $100,000 in advertisements to a company allegedly connected to the Kremlin. The news surfaced as part of the U.S. government's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
It appears that a significant majority of the ads purchased were geographically targeted, meaning that the Russian engineers were ensuring that only eyes in certain American states or cities could see them.
The Content
While the advertisements in question rarely mentioned then candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, their focus appeared to be promotion of varying controversial topics in the U.S., such as LGBT issues, as well as issues of race and gun control.
The news seemingly contradicts Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's previous statement regarding fictitious/misleading advertisements (especially concerning their effect on the 2016 elections).
After stating that the very idea that such advertisements is "a pretty crazy notion," he went on to say:
"There's a profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason why someone could have voted the way that they did is because they saw some fake news..." - Mark Zuckerberg (December 2016)
Read more at The NY Times, WSJ.com and NPR