Facebook Ads VP Backtracks on Russian Interference Comments

Facebook’s VP of Advertising has backtracked on comments he made recently relating to the use of Facebook by Russian operatives to sow discord amongst Americans.

WIRED reports that Rob Goldman, Facebook’s vice president of advertising, has backtracked on recent comments he made relating to Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian operatives for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election via social media.

Mueller’s indictment document was 37 pages long, 35 of which mentioned Facebook specifically, putting the social media website right at the center of the political debate. Mueller’s document claimed that Russian operatives used platforms such as Facebook to promote memes, plan rallies, create fake accounts and generally pit American citizens on the left and right against each other in order to create chaos within the country.

Only hours after the indictment was released, Rob Goldman took to Twitter to clarify some of the issues raised in Mueller’s document. Goldman made a number of claims including one that was retweeted by President Trump himself. Goldman tweeted, “I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.”

“I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.”
Rob Goldman
Vice President of Facebook Ads https://t.co/A5ft7cGJkE

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018

Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.

— Rob Goldman (@robjective) February 17, 2018

Goldman clarified what he believed the Russians aimed to achieve with their use of Facebook tweeting that they were attempting to divide America and that so far it seems to be working,

The main goal of the Russian propaganda and misinformation effort is to divide America by using our institutions, like free speech and social media, against us. It has stoked fear and hatred amongst Americans. It is working incredibly well. We are quite divided as a nation.

— Rob Goldman (@robjective) February 17, 2018

Initially, it seemed that other executives at Facebook approved of Goldman’s string of tweets with a Facebook VP named Andrew Bosworth even retweeting Goldman’s thread. But shortly after President Trump’s notice of the tweets, it seems that Facebook suddenly took issue with Goldman’s messaging. Facebook VP of Global Public Policy Joel Kaplan released an official statement on Goldman’s tweets saying “Nothing we found contradicts the Special Counsel’s indictments. Any suggestion otherwise is wrong.”

WIRED talked to a Facebook executive about what they believed Russia’s aim was with their social media misinformation campaign. The executive replied, “I don’t think anyone at Facebook can say definitely one way or another.” They continued, “We are a tech company. Why would we have the answer? I wouldn’t trust us if we said we did.” Goldman himself then took to Facebook’s internal communication network to explain his tweets to his colleagues saying:

I wanted to apologize for having tweeted my own view about Russian interference without having it reviewed by anyone internally. The tweets were my own personal view and not Facebook’s. I conveyed my view poorly. The Special Counsel has far more information about what happened [than] I do—so seeming to contradict his statements was a serious mistake on my part.

To those of you who have reached out this weekend to offer your support, thank you. It means more than you know. And to all of you who have worked so hard over the last six months to demonstrate that we understand our responsibility to prevent abuse on Facebook — and are working hard to do better in the future — my deepest apologies.

It seems that Facebook and Goldman are now in full damage control as Mueller’s investigation focuses further on the social media platform. How Facebook will continue to deal with Mueller’s investigation remains to be seen.