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The tech company hasn't opened up, citing the ongoing government investigation. |
The 3,000 ads cost about $100,000 over the two years, according to Stamos’s post. They were “connected to about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages” that violated Facebook’s policies. They focused largely on “divisive social and political” subjects like gun rights, immigration, and LGBT issues, and less on particular presidential candidates or the election itself. And Facebook suspects, though can’t confirm, that some of them were connected to a Russian troll farm in St. Petersburg called the “Internet Research Agency,” as one company official told the Washington Post (paywall). It has given the information to congressional investigators looking into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 US election and the Donald Trump campaign’s possible collusion. |
However, what’s just as striking is what Facebook has not disclosed about the ad campaigns—including the nature of the ads themselves, how many users saw them, who those users were, and how they may have been targeted. Simply put, Facebook isn’t divulging (publicly, at least) any measure of how much influence the ads had on American voters. |
Here are the questions Facebook has yet to answer and why it matters. We’ve sent this list of questions to Facebook; the company declined to comment, citing the ongoing government investigation. |
What were the demographics of the users who saw the ads, and how were they targeted? |
Although $100,000 and 3,000 ads is a relatively minuscule campaign, those ads could be highly effective if they were tailored and shown to just the right people. |
Vast amounts of data are available on American citizens, from public voting records, to information collected online by market research firms, to what people themselves share publicly on social media. Organizations can collect that information, synthesize it, and apply behavioral modeling to create personality profiles. In principle these could be used to identify undecided voters in swing districts, figure out which issues mattered to each one (job creation for some, abortion for others, for example), and show them ads designed to influence their vote a certain way. That could theoretically make a relatively small ad campaign, triggered at the right time, decisive in an election. |
Knowing whom the campaign targeted would give us insight into what was being tested and what the people behind it were after. Did they target swing counties and swing states in the run up to the election? Did they focus on groups of certain races, ages, or genders? |
Facebook says only about one quarter of the ads in the Russian campaign were geo-targeted, i.e. aimed at people in a particular area. The implication is that the rest were randomly shown to people across the US. But geo-targeting isn’t the only way to do targeting. |
David Carroll, a professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York, said in a phone interview on Sept. 7 that he believes the campaign could have used another Facebook ad feature called Custom Audiences. It allows advertisers to compile their own list of people, upload it to the platform, and match the people in the list to users on Facebook by their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. If advertisers had selected those names based on their demographics or location, Facebook would not know about it, and if the Russians had uploaded such a list, Facebook would therefore not know how the people on it were originally selected. |
However, it certainly would be able to see where the ads ended up. Facebook is not giving out those details, and Custom Audiences aren’t mentioned in Stamos’s blog post nor in a big report (pdf) about information warfare that Facebook published in April. |
In addition to demographics, there is also the question of reach. Facebook offers an array of ad services, and $100,000 among 3,000 ads could buy audience of many different sizes, depending on how they were targeted. Facebook is not giving those details either. |
What were the 470 accounts connected to the ad campaign? |
Non-Americans who spend money to influence an election in the US are breaking US laws and regulations. However, an anonymous Facebook official told the Washington Post that the company will not be releasing the names of the accounts and Facebook pages connected to the Russian campaign, citing its data policy and federal laws. |
Keeping that information secret means that any Facebook user who saw posts from these accounts will never know that they were authored by a Russian propaganda operation. Further, it means we don’t know what sorts of materials, other than ads, those accounts published or how big their audiences were. |
What was in the ads, and what types of ads were they? |
We know the ads focused on divisive topics and, to a lesser extent, the election and candidates themselves. But we don’t know what forms they took. Were they images or videos or links to articles outside of Facebook? Did the accounts create content themselves, or reuse content created by others? If they linked to other websites, then which ones? |
There are two main types of ads on Facebook: those that look like typical Facebook posts in your timeline, distinguished by the word “Sponsored,” and those that appear in the sidebar to the right of the timeline, like conventional ads. Both types can be used to spread fake news and divisive messages, but sponsored posts are harder to distinguish from regular posts by your friends, so they can look more legitimate. |
That white paper, however, described multiple fake news campaigns conducted during the 2016 presidential election, but did not mention advertisements, sponsored posts, or any other kinds of paid Facebook content. It focused on misinformation that users and groups posted normally and spread organically, without paying for it, and therefore without targeting it to specific users. It briefly mentioned fake news operations that targeted markets and regions, but did not elaborate. |
Was there any overlap between the content used by the Russian campaign and other known campaigns? |
Did the Russian operation push its own, unique message, or did it use the same links and content that other organizations—particularly American ones—were pushing at the same time? In particular, was there any overlap with content pushed by presidential campaigns or their associated groups and fundraising committees? |
Researchers have found many cases in which bots and fake accounts tied to Russia have used social media to push messages consistent with the American far-right. A recently-launched project, Hamilton 68, continuously tracks Twitter accounts it says are tied to Russian influence operations. These accounts regularly post links to right-wing American news organizations like Breitbart and Fox News, and frequently retweet Donald Trump. |
If the Russian ad campaign on Facebook shared the same content as American groups or campaigns during the US election, that wouldn’t in itself prove any kind of collusion between them. But it would certainly shed light on the Russians’ motives. |
A related question is whether the Russian campaign used not only similar content, but also similar targeting tactics, to other campaigns. In 2016 both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump hired a data firm, Cambridge Analytica, which says it can use micro-targeting and behavioral modeling to identify and persuade voters online. The company is being probed by congressional investigators examining potential ties between it “and right-wing web personalities based in Eastern Europe who the US believes are Russian fronts,” Time reported in May. These are the same investigators to which Facebook provided information about the Russian ad campaign this week. |
Political campaigns being advised by Cambridge Analytica would likely use Facebook’s ad features to target certain demographics or upload names of pre-targeted users to Facebook’s Custom Audiences. In theory, Facebook could examine the tactics used and the data uploaded in the Russian ad campaign, and look for similarities with American campaigns. Presumably, Facebook has given congressional investigators all of the relevant data that would allow for such a comparison. |
Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, two of Brazil’s biggest stars of recent times, will go down memory lane at the 13th Dubai International Sports Conference in the New Year, sharing their experience of winning football’s ultimate prize – the FIFA World Cup. |
Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were both part of the 2002 Brazilian squad in Japan and South Korea as the Selecao won their fifth – and last – World Cup title, defeating Germany in the title-match. |
Both Ronaldo and Ronaldinho sizzled in that campaign, with Ronaldo bagging the Golden Boot for his eight goals and Ronaldinho scoring a memorable goal in the quarterfinal against England – a stunning free-kick from almost 40 yards out over the floundering, unprepared and wrong-footed David Seaman. |
The Brazilian duo will share the dais with the winning captain of the 1998 World Cup, France’s Didier Deschamps and Juventus’ star Blaise Matuidi, winner of the 2018 World Cup with the French team, in a session titled “The World Cup Experience and Value of Success” on January 2 at the Madinat Conference Centre in Madinat Jumeirah. |
Known as “O Fenomeno” (The Phenomenon), Ronaldo was also a member of Brazil’s World Cup-winning team of 1994 and played a starring role in taking the team to the final at the 1998 World Cup, where they lost 0-3 to hosts France. Ronaldo is also a three-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year award (1996, 1997 and 2002) and also won the Golden Ball (player of the tournament award) at the 1998 World Cup. He is the second-highest goal-scorer for Brazil, behind Pele. |
Ronaldinho is celebrated as one of the most-gifted – and entertaining - players of his generation, and one of the greatest of all time. Two FIFA World Player of the Year trophies (2004, 2005) and a Ballon d'Or adorning his shelf are a testimony to his audacious talents. |
Deschamps, meanwhile, has the honour of being one of only three men in history, alongside Brazilian Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, to win the World Cup as both a player and manager. |
Having won the title at home in 1998, he was the Les Bleus boss earlier this year as they clinched the World Cup crown in Russia. He also holds the distinction of being one of only three players in football history to have won the trinity of the World Cup, European Championship and the Champions League as captain, alongside Beckenbauer and Iker Casillas. |
The star-studded list for the 13th edition of Dubai International Sports Conference also includes Gianni Infantino, President of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), who will be making his fifth consecutive appearance at DISC, which is a Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative and is organised by Dubai Sports Council under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council. |
Mr Infantino will be taking centrestage in the noon session titled, “More than a Game”. |
The Dubai International Sports Conference has been bringing football’s top stakeholders together since 2006 for extensive discussions on challenges facing the ever-evolving world of football and on ways to develop and enrich the sport at the domestic, regional and international level. |
The theme of the 13th edition is “Football and the Economy”, and the list of speakers also includes Zvonimir Boban, the Deputy Secretary General of FIFA who was captain of the Croatian team that finished third at the 1998 World Cup in France. |
Boban will discuss “New Formats and Revenue Perspectives” alongside Ferran Soriano, CEO of English club Manchester City, and Miguel Angel Gil, CEO of Spanish club Atletico Madrid in the second session. |
The Conference will open with a session titled, “Developing New Digital Strategies for the Football Sector”, where Peter Moore, CEO of English club Liverpool, Umberto Gandini, former CEO of Italian Club AS Roma, and Peter Hutton, Head of Live Sports at Facebook, will discuss strategies. |
In the fourth session of the day, Qusay Al Fawaz, President of Saudi Arabia Football Federation, will discuss “The Economics of Clubs and the Value of Players: Asian Club Opportunities and Perspectives”, alongside Mahajan Vasudevan Nair, Head of the Club Licensing at Asian Football Confederation, and Abdullah Nasser Al Junaibi, the Chairman of UAE’s Pro League Committee. |
Rather like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, gathering data for Google’s Street View service is a never-ending task . Before Google has had a chance to photograph every street on the planet, some of the areas already covered are starting to look out of date. Buildings get knocked down, new structures spring up, landscapes change – and suddenly some of Google’s Street View images don’t match up with reality. |
Google, of course, is well aware of this fact, and besides mapping new areas with its wide variety of 360-degree cameras, also busies itself with the monumental task of refreshing old imagery. |
On Thursday it rolled out its latest set of renewed data, this time for a number of UK cities – London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff among them. It also added new imagery for UK locations not covered up to now, areas which include parts of Scotland’s coastline and locations in South Wales. |
“For the first time, people all over the world can see Street View imagery of Bulgaria,” Spitzer wrote. “They’ll also have access to panoramas of almost 200 new towns and cities in Russia,” as well as the thousands of miles of refreshed imagery for the UK. |
Bulgaria is the 48th country to allow Google’s camera-laden cars to explore its streets. The initial rollout of data includes the nation’s capital, Sofia, as well as historical cities such as Veliko Tarnovo. Bulgarian ski resorts such as Bansko and Pamporovo also get a look-in. |
Finally, as mentioned, Google has also added Street View imagery for more than 200 Russian cities, including Sochi, host of next year’s Winter Olympics. Russia first appeared on Street View just over 12 months ago when imagery for Moscow and St. Petersburg was added to the service. |
All in all it’s a pretty significant update, and one sure to enhance the experience of any armchair travelers interested in a European break. |
Vehix and E.W. Scripps Co. have inked a deal to boost auto advertising for its local TV station affiliates in nine markets. |
Scripps will allow automotive dealers to link their local affiliate advertising to a co-branded site featuring Vehix’s new and used car-buying services. That site will include pricing, rebates and specifications, information on automobiles and trucks as well as expert and user reviews. It also will provide tools to compare vehicles across brands according to pricing, ratings and specs. |
After customers have selected the vehicle they want, they can submit a secure online request to purchase their desired vehicle and receive a no-haggle price quote from a local Vehix member dealer. |
With more consumers turning to the Internet for auto purchases,Vehix, which is owned by Comcast Spotlight, the cable operator's ad unit, and Scripps believe this partnership will provide multi-platform campaigns designed to inform the consumer, provide more choice in local markets and improve the overall car-buying experience. |
MEET the Wirral pensioner who has helped saved up to 450 lives by donating more blood than anyone else in the country. |
Tom Kelly, 71, has given blood 156 times - more than any other person in the history of the National Blood Service. |
He has given a total of 19 gallons - the equivalent of 19 human bodies and enough blood to keep Alder Hey children's hospital completely stocked for up to two weeks. |
Until he was forced to retire as a donor due to ill-health, Mr Kelly had not missed a blood appointment since he was aged 17. |
He said: "It's just something I've always wanted to do. I'm not some kind of hero, I just did something out of human kindness. |
"I actually feel very proud. It's only a few minutes of your time to give blood." |
The grandfather-of-four from Greasby gave his first donation while serving with the Royal Artillery - soldiers were ordered to give blood regularly to keep stocks high in military hospitals. On leaving the Army he worked as a bus driver before accepting a job as a hospital porter in the operating theatres of the former Sefton Hospital. |
The experience strengthened his resolved to be a life-long donor. |
He said: "I saw people in theatre and saw how important it was to give blood. |
"I used to go down to the hospital's blood bank quite regularly and knew people's lives depended on a good supply of blood." |
Mr Kelly finally retired as a donor at the age of 68 after being diagnosed with angina, but he still holds the record as Britain's most prolific donor. |
National Blood Service spokes-woman Penny Richardson paid tribute last night to Mr Kelly. |
She said: "It is quite remarkable. If you consider that you can only donate blood three times a year, Tom has donated more than 50 years' worth of blood. |
"It is such an incredible example for other people." |
A lingering flu virus has also meant a lot of regular donors have been unable to give blood. |
There is currently around five days of blood supply available in the North West at any one time. |
Ms Richardson said the "dangerlevel" for the region was if stocks fell to only a supply of three or four days. |
The service needs to collect 500 blood donations every day to meet demand from hospitals in Merseyside and North Wales. |
She said: "" There are many demands on people but we obviously have to keep asking people to come in and help us. |
"The key thing is to keep platelets stocks high because they only last five days." |
Earlier this month stocks fell to a low of four days supply because an out-break of flu and cold weather. |
Are Pakistan's nuclear weapons safe? |
Gen. Musharraf says yes. Seymour Hersh isn't so sure, and claims U.S. special forces are prepared to go in and take control should the Pakistani leader lose his grip. |
Of all the worst-case scenarios that could result if U.S. military involvement in Central Asia spirals out of control, one of the most nightmarish is the possibility that Pakistani Gen. Pervez Musharraf loses his grip on power, and the country's nuclear weapons fall into the hands of Islamic extremists. |
On Monday, the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reported that American special forces are prepared to sneak into Pakistan and disarm its nuclear weapons in the event that the conflict in Afghanistan destabilizes Musharraf's government. |
"The hunt for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network has evolved into a regional crisis that has put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at risk, exacerbated the instability of the government of General Pervez Musharraf, and raised the possibility of a nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India," Hersh writes. "An ilite Pentagon undercover unit -- trained to slip into foreign countries and find suspected nuclear weapons and disarm them if necessary -- has explored plans for an operation inside Pakistan." he writes. |
But Musharraf and Pakistani officials have gone out of their way to try to reassure nervous Pakistanis and Western leaders that the nuclear arsenal is safe and Musharraf's government is stable. Earlier this month, Musharraf reshuffled his top military brass, and replaced the head of the Pakistani intelligence service in a purge of officials who are seen as sympathetic to the Taliban. Pakistan's president said there is no reason to fear for the stability of his government or its control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. |
"Pakistan's army is certainly the most disciplined army in the world and there is no chance of any extremism coming into the army," he said. "I don't see this doomsday scenario ever appearing." |
During his visit to Pakistan earlier this month, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he found Musharraf to be "very much in charge" of his government. "I found him to be in a secure position," Powell said. |
But Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, headquartered in Washington, said there is still some cause for concern about the conflict in Afghanistan spreading to neighboring Pakistan. "The greatest risk is a fissure within Pakistan's military caused by officers sympathetic to the Taliban," he said. |
As Musharraf tries to calm Western leaders, he must also placate religious fundamentalists within Pakistan's borders. Among Pakistanis who harbor resentment toward the West, there is a saying that nothing happens in Pakistan without the blessing of the three A's: Allah, the Army and America. |
So it came as no surprise that Musharraf told Powell that the U.S. should try to end the bombing in Afghanistan as quickly as possible. "Certainly, a majority of the people are against the operation in Afghanistan," Musharraf told reporters after his visit with the secretary of state. "They would like to see this operation terminated as fast as possible, and that is what I would urge the coalition." |
Clearly, Musharraf must still play both sides of the political aisle as the U.S. war in Afghanistan continues. As the general prepared to speak to the National Command Authority (NCA) last week -- the agency that controls the nation's nuclear weapons -- religious leaders denounced him at a protest in Lahore. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of the main religious party Jamat-i-Islami, declared Musharraf a "security risk," saying that the military ruler has bargained away the country's security and control of its nuclear program in exchange for aid dollars from the West. |
Ahmed told another rally in Lahore over the weekend that religious groups were planning sit-in protests in Islamabad calling for Musharraf's resignation. "We will go to Islamabad with full force and we will ask all religious parties to participate," he said. "We will not call off the sit-in until the Musharraf government quits." |
Musharraf announced Sunday he would meet with Ahmed and other religious leaders soon to discuss the domestic crisis brewing as the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan continue. |
But the protests have created concern about the stability and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Last week, the Times of London reported that Pakistan had already handed over some nuclear materials to Osama bin Laden, which was flatly denied by Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Mohammed Khan. "These reports are absurd," he said. |
Maria Sultan, research fellow in the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS), says Western fears about Pakistan's nuclear security are unfounded, and that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are protected by the very structure of the NCA. |
"Pakistan's command and control system is based on a central authoritative system; therefore there is lesser potential of accidental launches or misuse," she explained. Control of the nuclear arsenal is divided among military, political and scientific bodies, a form of checks and balances created to prevent the weapons from falling into the wrong hands. |
Also, Pakistan does not have its nuclear capability in so-called "push-button state." That means "it would need a lot of synchronization with a larger number of personnel; hence some rogue element taking control is impossible," Sultan pointed out. "Unlike the United States, there is no nuclear button in the hand of one person or one organization. If the threat of nuclear terrorism is to be considered as a viable option, any power which has the capability of producing nuclear fissile material even for civilian use is a source of threat," she said. |
Still, Michael Krepon, a nuclear weapons specialist at the Henry L. Stimson Center, said world leaders are understandably concerned about pro-Taliban forces toppling Musharraf's government. "Such officers getting out of control would be the ultimate nightmare." |
And others inside Pakistan do not share Sultan's sense of security. Zafar Jaspal, a strategic expert at the Islamabad Research Policy Institute, said that compared with other nuclear powers, Pakistan's security systems leave much to be desired. "When one makes comparison with the other nuclear weapon states, particularly with reference to high-tech states, the [security system] is dubious," Jaspal said. "To make it more effective, Pakistan needs technological assistance from the developed world." |
U.S. law, however, does not allow sharing such sensitive nuclear information with other countries. Clearly, the two countries' alliance in the war against terrorism heralds greater cooperation on many different military and diplomatic fronts. But it is not yet clear how much and what kind of help the U.S. will offer Pakistan to keep its nukes under lock and key. |
Olentangy Liberty’s Jack Barboza (19) tackles Toledo Whitmer’s Patrick Mappe (13) during the first half of Friday’s Division I regional championship in Findlay. |
Liberty’s Edward Warinner breaks up a pass during the first half of Friday’s Division I regional championship against Toledo Whitmer. |
Mitchell Okuley tossed three touchdowns and Matthew Webb ran for two more as Olentangy Liberty ran away from Toledo Whitmer to win the Division I, Region 2 title Friday night at Donnell Stadium in Findlay. |
The Patriots (11-2) reach the state semifinal for the second straight season, though the road was not the same. |
Liberty was undefeated at this point last year. This time, the Patriots had to overcome a couple of early season non-league losses to Huber Heights Wayne (17-0 Sept. 1) and Pickerington North (42-0 Sept. 22). |
Webb made his impact on Liberty’s third possession. He broke a 62-yard run to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run to give the Patriots the lead with 5:00 left in the first quarter. |
Webb rushed for 156 yards on 23 carries, including 107 yards in the first quarter. |
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