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Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#21

Post by AaronFriel »

pamqzl wrote: post #14
chasing wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's confusing because both include the word "Clinton," but one is a human being who, amongst other things, ran for President in 2016. The other is a non-profit humanitarian organization. Two different things.

> non-profit humanitarian organization Which just happens to pay the Clintons' bills every time they feel like travelling anywhere, and direct money to whoever the Clintons want to do favours for. The election is over, we can all admit that the Clinton Foundation is pretty stinky.

That's probably true, but there's very little evidence of donations to the foundation being used to elicit favors, and there's a smidge of evidence that such attempts failed. Example:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-clinton-donor-chag...

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#22

Post by teddy_r_bear »

chasing wrote: post #4
manbearpigg wrote: post #3

Didn't Hillary take some 25 million dollars from the Saudis? I thought this witch hunt was put to rest months ago.

Nope. You're probably thinking of the $25m the Saudis gave to the Clinton Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian organization.

A fund run by their daughter...

http://time.com/3736221/chelsea-clinton-global-initiative-hi...

...that has been accused of sometimes using the foundation as a type of slush fund...

http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation...

...and doesn't always do what it promises...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/us/politics/hillary-clint...

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#23

Post by sigmar »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, are there any laws on the books right now which are meant to prevent this sort of thing? For example, let's assume a foreign government decided to purchase ads either backing or attacking a US political candidate, and they were completely overt about it. (No hiding behind shell companies or transferring funds anonymously; completely out in the open.) Are there any laws or systems currently in place…

My understanding is no, this is legal. But this would be illegal if a U.S. political campaign knew about and facilitated these ad buys, as then it would be a contribution. Source: https://transition.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml#Pro...

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#24

Post by JamesCoyne »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, are there any laws on the books right now which are meant to prevent this sort of thing? For example, let's assume a foreign government decided to purchase ads either backing or attacking a US political candidate, and they were completely overt about it. (No hiding behind shell companies or transferring funds anonymously; completely out in the open.) Are there any laws or systems currently in place…

The Federal Election Commission would have something to say:

"The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment." [0]

The definition of "foreign national" is quite broad.

How this works with regards to PAC contributions is unclear to me.

[0] https://transition.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#25

Post by dforrestwilson »

chasing wrote: post #9
esaym wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that not the same thing?

Well, it's confusing because both include the word "Clinton," but one is a human being who, amongst other things, ran for President in 2016. The other is a non-profit humanitarian organization. Two different things.

Pretty snarky when we all know the lines are blurrier than your comment suggests.

Here's one example where the Clinton Foundation provided access to government officials by corporations seeking favors: http://freebeacon.com/issues/emails-clinton-foundation-donor...

Denis O’Brien has a checkered past of journalistic obstruction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_O%27Brien

Access. The Clinton Foundation sells access, from which the Clinton family benefits.

I don't see the Gates Foundation pulling this, do you?

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#27

Post by elipsey »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, are there any laws on the books right now which are meant to prevent this sort of thing? For example, let's assume a foreign government decided to purchase ads either backing or attacking a US political candidate, and they were completely overt about it. (No hiding behind shell companies or transferring funds anonymously; completely out in the open.) Are there any laws or systems currently in place…

TFA:

"Under federal law and Federal Election Commission regulations, both foreign nationals and foreign governments are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the United States. The ban includes independent expenditures made in connection with an election.

Those banned from such spending include foreign citizens, foreign governments, foreign political parties, foreign corporations, foreign associations and foreign partnerships, according to the FEC."

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#29

Post by [deleted] »

elipsey wrote: post #27
Ajedi32 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, are there any laws on the books right now which are meant to prevent this sort of thing? For example, let's assume a foreign government decided to purchase ads either backing or attacking a US political candidate, and they were completely overt about it. (No hiding behind shell companies or transferring funds anonymously; completely out in the open.) Are there any laws or systems currently in place…

TFA: "Under federal law and Federal Election Commission regulations, both foreign nationals and foreign governments are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the United States. The ban includes independent expenditures made in connection with an election. Those banned from such spending include foreign citizens, foreign governments, foreign political…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#30

Post by foota »

eroo wrote: post #26
sumoboy wrote: post #19

Why would Facebook discriminate where ad $ revenue is coming from? Twitter, Instagram, doesn't matter, money is money.

Because foreign agents buying political ads violates US federal law

For the seller of the ad time or for the buyer?
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