The Facebook logo is displayed on their website in an illustration photo taken in Bordeaux, France, February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/Files

 

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook Inc said Wednesday it had found that an influence operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May.

The dominant social network said that many of the ads promoted 470 ?inauthentic? accounts and pages that it has now suspended and the ads spread polarising views on topics including immigration, race, and gay rights, instead of backing a particular political candidate.

Facebook announced the findings in a blog post by its chief security officer and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into influence operations during the presidential election.