Russian agents bought ads on Google on YouTube, Google search, Gmail, and the company’s ad network DoubleClick in an attempt to influence the election results, the Washington Post reported [1].
Google is now conducting an investigation on suspicious advertising, trying to get a clearer picture of the extent Russian actors may have used it to try to interfere with the elections, the Financial Times [2] reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal [3], the ads mainly concerned controversial issues rather than promoting a specific candidate. Google said that there is evidence that the Russian government spent $4,700 on ads on its platforms, while Russia-linked accounts spent $53,000.
The revelations follow closely the news about Russian operatives [4] having bought Facebook ads intending to influence voters. Google is among the tech companies that the US Congress has called to testify [5] as part of the investigations into Russian interference in the US elections.
