Facebook must ‘follow the money’ to uncover extent of Russian meddling

Author Diana Pilipenko urges social media executives to be transparent, accurate, and exhaustive in their investigations of Russian-bought political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign.

After initial resistance, public pressure recently compelled Facebook to open an investigation into political ads purchased by Russian entities to influence the 2016 election. But there are reasons to believe that Facebook’s investigation may be too narrow. To find and interdict the culprits, Facebook must follow the money – thoroughly, and without limiting the scope in a way that allows nefarious actors to persist.

The “follow the money” approach is as old as the investigative business itself. But as an investigator of illicit finance with extensive corporate experience, I can testify that this approach is both as effective as ever and especially critical in the case of the current Facebook investigation.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Guardian. Click here to view the full article.

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