Google has found evidence that Russian agents
spent tens of thousands of dollars on adverts in a bid to sway the 2016 US
election, media reports say.
Sources quoted by the Washington Post say the
adverts aimed to spread disinformation across Google's products including
YouTube and Gmail.
They say the adverts do not appear to be from
the same Kremlin-linked source that bought ads on Facebook.
Google said it was investigating attempts to
"abuse" its systems.
US intelligence agencies concluded earlier this
year that Russia had tried to sway the election in favour of Donald Trump.
The Russian government strongly denies the
claims and President Trump has denied any collusion with the Kremlin.
The issue is under investigation by US
congressional committees and the Department of Justice.
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Sources said to be close to the Google
investigation said the company was looking into a group of adverts that cost
less than $100,000 (£76,000).
Google said in a statement: "We have a set
of strict ads policies including limits on political ad targeting and
prohibitions on targeting based on race and religion. We are taking a deeper
look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and
other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries."
Microsoft said on Monday it was also
investigating whether any US election adverts had been bought by Russians for
its Bing search engine or other products.
A spokesman told Reuters it had no further
information at the moment.
Facebook said in September that it had uncovered
a Russian-funded campaign to promote divisive social and political messages on
its network.
It said that $100,000 was spent on about 3,000
ads over a two-year period, ending in May 2017.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg later said his
company would pass the information to US investigators.
Source: BBC
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