The company said $100,000 (£77,000) was spent on about 3,000 ads over a two-year period, ending in May 2017.

The ads did not back any political figures specifically, but instead posted on topics including immigration, race and equal rights.

Facebook said it was co-operating with a US investigation into the matter.

It is handing over its evidence to special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is overseeing an inquiry into alleged Russian interference in last year’s US presidential election.

The advertisements directed users towards around 470 accounts that spread false information or were otherwise in breach of Facebook’s terms and conditions, the site said.

“The ads and accounts appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum,” the company said in a blog post published on Wednesday.

The company said it believed, but could not independently confirm, that the accounts were created by the so-called Internet Research Agency, a St Petersburg-based group known for posting pro-Kremlin messages on social media.

The accounts in question have now been shut down, Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos added.

How the campaign was uncovered

The campaign was uncovered as part of Facebook’s internal investigation into ways in which the network may have been abused during the last US presidential election campaign.

The site, and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, came under extremely heavy criticism for not taking the issue seriously in the days following President Donald Trump’s election win. Mr Zuckerberg dismissed the notion that “fake news” on Facebook swayed the election as “crazy”.

In Wednesday’s post, Mr Stamos went into detail about how the campaign was uncovered.

“[We] looked for ads that might have originated in Russia, even those with very weak signals of a connection and not associated with any known organized effort.

“This was a broad search, including, for instance, ads bought from accounts with US IP addresses but with the language set to Russian – even though they didn’t necessarily violate any policy or law.

“In this part of our review, we found approximately $50,000 in potentially politically related ad spending on roughly 2,200 ads.”

News of Facebook’s discovery came on the same day Facebook was accused of inflating its advertising reach.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook told potential advertising partners that it could reach 41m 18-24 year olds in the US. However, according to official US census data, there should only be 31m people of that age in the country.

Richard Newman, a lawyer specialising in online marketing, said the scale of the issue was too small to cause Facebook any significant headache – but the company did need to get on top of the issue.

“Facebook clearly has a dominant position in social media space and internet advertising,” he told the BBC.

“I don’t really foresee that as a problem at all as long as they take preventative measures with respect to policing fake news and trying to gauge the authenticity of advertisements on its platform.”

–

Source: BBC

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According to him, the people criticizing him lack spiritual understanding hence interpreted his prophesy based “on the basis of their own minds and ideas.”

“There is no shortcut to spiritual maturity unless earthly understanding gives way to spiritual enlightenment. I see many people trying to interpret prophets on the basis of their own minds and ideas. The prophecy seems to cause uproar, to many who gave it different meaning and interpretation,” he stated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”48PfS7TCh3zvnMKQGTR6KLNwGbd1Nl7D”]The popular Nigerian prophet has been ridiculed for predicting a win for US Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton who lost to Donald Trump last Wednesday.

The prophesy which was posted on his Facebook wall prior to the election in the US was deleted after the election. It was later re-posted.

But in a recent Facebook post, the unperturbed prophet said he is not on the same level with those criticizing him saying such people need the “the spirit of a prophet to recognize or know a prophet.”

“In this case, we need the Spirit of a Prophet to recognize or to know a Prophet. Our levels are different. We are not on the same level.”

Below is TB Joshua’s full post:

MY VIEW REGARDING THE ELECTION (US)

We have seen the outcome of the election in America. Having read, you will notice that it is all about the popular vote, the vote of the majority of Americans.

In this case, we need the Spirit of a Prophet to recognize or to know a Prophet. Our levels are different. We are not on the same level.

We might have great cathedrals, huge bells, and all kinds of activities that are good by human standards but human point of view is limited.

1 Corinthians 1:25. The foolishness of God is wiser than that of men and the weakness of God is stronger than that of men.

There is no shortcut to spiritual maturity unless earthly understanding gives way to spiritual enlightenment.

I see many people trying to interpret prophets on the basis of their own minds and ideas. The prophecy seems to cause uproar, to many who gave it different meaning and interpretation.

Finally, campaigns and elections in any democratic country in the world are never about one person, it is about the country we care and love. Whichever way it happens, we must accept the outcome and then look to the future (God), the Author and Finisher.

Democracy is all about accommodation. All democrats must value the process of democracy more than the product.

God bless the United States of America.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Democratic candidate was speaking to top party donors in a phone call, which was leaked to the media.

Protests are continuing against the victory of her rival, Donald Trump.

In New York, about 2,000 marchers headed for the skyscraper where the president-elect lives, shouting “not my president”.

Anti-Trump activists have held daily protests in US cities since his election victory was confirmed on Wednesday.

Mr Trump seems to be rowing back on some of his campaign pledges. Having promised to scrap President Barack Obama’s healthcare law dubbed “Obamacare”, he now says he is open to leaving intact key parts of the act.

Asked by the Wall Street Journal whether he would implement a promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, he listed healthcare, jobs, border control and tax reform as greater priorities.

The Republican is due to be sworn in on 20 January, taking over from Mr Obama, who will have completed two terms in office.

‘We dropped’
Mrs Clinton, who served as Mr Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, has been keeping a low profile since conceding victory.

On 28 October, Mr Comey informed Congress that the FBI was examining newly discovered emails sent or received by Mrs Clinton, thus reviving an investigation which had been completed in July.

Then, on 6 November, two days before the election, Mr Comey announced in a second letter that he was standing by his original assessment – that Mrs Clinton should not face criminal charges.

“There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” Mrs Clinton told the donors on a farewell conference call on Saturday.

“But our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum. We dropped, and we had to keep really pushing ahead to regain our advantage.”

According to US media, she added that Mr Comey’s later recommendation that she should face no charges had energised Mr Trump’s supporters.

Her campaign team said that despite Mrs Clinton being cleared of criminal behaviour, the move only revived Mr Trump’s claim that the Democratic candidate was being protected by a rigged system.

Despair and anger
The New York marchers rallied in Union Square Park for the march to Trump Tower, from which the next president has been planning the transition to his inauguration.

One organiser of the New York protest, Kenneth Shelton, told the BBC that it was not an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of Tuesday’s election. “We lost,” he admitted.

Placards at the demonstration express despair and anger, the BBC’s Paul Adams says.

One read “Trump: An American Tragedy” while the message on another read “Now We’re Your Nightmare”.

“We must unite despite our differences to stop HATE from ruling the land,” organisers of the New York protest wrote on Facebook. Demonstrations in the city earlier this week drew thousands of people.
Similar demonstrations were also held in Los Angeles and Chicago on Saturday.

On Friday demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, turned violent and one person was shot but most rallies have passed off peacefully.

–

Source: BBC

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The Democratic presidential candidate called on the FBI director to explain the new inquiry to the American people.

James Comey earlier said the FBI was looking into newly found messages.

The latest emails came to light during a separate inquiry into top Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner.

Devices belonging to Ms Abedin and Mr Weiner were seized in an investigation into whether he sent sexually explicit emails to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.

“The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” said Mrs Clinton.

“It’s imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay.”

She highlighted that Mr Comey had said he did not know the significance of the new emails, adding: “I’m confident (that) whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July.”

Mrs Clinton’s Republican rival Donald Trump, however, described the FBI investigation as “the biggest political scandal since Watergate”, referring to the 1970s scandal that engulfed Republican President Richard Nixon.
“It’s everybody’s hope that justice at last can be delivered,” he told supporters at a rally in Iowa.

“The FBI would never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offence.”
Mr Comey said the FBI would investigate if the newly discovered emails contain classified information.

The FBI chief said in a letter to Congress that investigators had discovered the emails “in connection with an unrelated case… that appear to be pertinent to the investigation”.

He said he “cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work”.

It could be nothing. It could be everything. And it almost certainly won’t be resolved before Americans head to the polls in just under two weeks.

The letter from Mr Comey to Congress is frustratingly vague. There’s no information, for instance, or how many emails are in question. That will only fuel the rampant speculation already breaking out, with leaks from “government sources” in the coming days sure to fan the flames.

Mrs Clinton’s critics will go on the attack, using the latest news to support their claims that the former secretary of state engaged in malfeasance. Her supporters will spend the next few days in a defensive crouch, trying to assess how bad the damage could be.

What’s certain, however, is that whether this turns out to be a big deal or not, it places the spotlight on all the wrong places for the Clinton campaign. It all but guarantees that even if she wins White House, the early days of her presidency will be dogged by this long-running political imbroglio.

The FBI has already established the Democratic candidate had classified information on a private email server.

In July, Mr Comey said Mrs Clinton’s handling of sensitive material during her 2009-13 tenure as secretary of state was “extremely careless”, but cleared her of any criminal wrongdoing.

The revelation that she handled sensitive information while breaking federal rules by running her own email server out of her upstate New York home has dogged her campaign since last year.

What a difference a plane journey makes. When we left Westchester, New York, on Hillary Clinton’s campaign plane, spirits were high amongst her staff.

Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, came to the back of the plane and told reporters that early voting was going in their favour and that Mrs Clinton would even campaign in Republican-leaning Arizona next week.

But Mr Mook added that they weren’t taking anything for granted. He said: “Hillary is superstitious.”

When we landed and wifi internet was restored, the Clinton team first learned the news of a reopened FBI investigation.

She was right to be superstitious.
As we got off the plane, one of her advisers told us: “We are just learning about this at the same time as you are.”
Mrs Clinton stayed on for far longer than usual. Her team were digesting the news and working out how to respond.

When she did walk off the plane, she smiled and ignored shouted questions from the media on the tarmac about the long-running email saga.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta criticised the FBI’s “extraordinary” timing.

The revelation comes just 11 days before Americans go to the polls in the presidential election.

Mrs Clinton is five points ahead of Mr Trump, according to a Real Clear Politics average.

Paul Ryan, the highest-ranked elected Republican, called the FBI decision “long overdue”.

The House of Representatives Speaker renewed his call for the Director of National Intelligence to halt classified briefings for the Democratic candidate.

“She was entrusted with some of our nation’s most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information,” he said.

The former secretary of state’s private email server was first revealed in March 2015 by the New York Times.

She did not immediately express regret, and said the main reason for her “[email protected]” address was “convenience”.

Soon after that she apologised in an interview with ABC News, and has since said sorry to voters a number of times.

–

Source: BBC

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He also suggested the presidential race was looking like a “rigged election”.

The comments came in the wake of the publication of a recording in which he made obscene remarks, which sparked a string of sexual assault claims.

Polls suggest Mr Trump is losing ground in some of the key battleground states.

Speaking at a rally in New Hampshire, Mr Trump said Mrs Clinton had been “all pumped up” at the beginning of the last debate but could “barely reach her car” at the end.
“We should take a drugs test,” he said.

He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim.

Donald Trump’s personal attacks on Hillary Clinton are on the increase.

He’s nicknamed her Crooked Hillary, said he would put her in prison if he was elected president, described her as not having the stamina for the job and now he has accused her of taking some kind of drug.

His rally speeches have become increasingly agitated and he has stepped up his rhetoric aimed at casting doubt on the fairness of this election, saying it is being rigged by a corrupt media pushing false allegations and outright lies.

He may be trailing in the polls but he is managing to attract thousands of people to his rallies and raise funds.

Meanwhile the Clinton campaign has hit back against Mr Trump’s contention that women accusing him of sexual assault are part of a scheme to help elect Mrs Clinton president.
Voting was to be encouraged and not “dismissed or undermined because a candidate is afraid he’s going to lose”, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said.

Mr Mook said he expected a record turnout because voters could see through what he described as Mr Trump’s “shameful attempts to undermine an election weeks before it happens”.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said he was “fully confident” that the November election would be carried out “with integrity”, according to his spokeswoman AshLee Strong.

Mr Ryan, the most senior elected US Republican official, has said he will not defend Donald Trump in the wake of the recording of the nominee’s obscene comments.

However, Mr Ryan has stopped short of ending his endorsement of the Republican candidate.

The latest person to come forward is 63-year-old Cathy Heller, who told the Guardian newspaper that Mr Trump grabbed her and “went for the lips” during their first and only meeting 20 years ago, during a Mother’s Day event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

A spokesman for Mr Trump rejected the claim.

Mr Trump has denied attacking any of the women who have made allegations against him, saying the claims are part of a plot to damage his campaign.

The final televised debate takes place on Wednesday.

–

Source: BBC

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The Republican nominee denied ever sexually assaulting women, but turned his fire on ex-President Bill Clinton in a bitter US presidential debate.

“There’s never been anybody in the history of politics that has been so abusive to women,” he said.

Hillary Clinton refused to address his comments about her husband.

Mr Trump’s attack on the Clintons came after moderator Anderson Cooper asked him about a 2005 video recording released on Friday that revealed Mr Trump bragging about groping women.

But when pressed on whether he had engaged in sexual misconduct with any women, he denied doing so and instead focused on Mr Clinton’s previous indiscretions.

No criminal charges have been brought against Mr Clinton in any allegations of sexual assault.

Mrs Clinton said the explosive video, which has sparked an exodus of Republicans denying support to their presidential nominee, showed who Mr Trump really was.

“With prior Republican nominees, I disagreed with them,” she added, “but I never questioned their fitness to serve.

“I think it’s clear to anyone who heard [the video] that it represents exactly who he is.”

When the two took to the stage in St Louis for their second of three debates, they did not shake hands, striking a bitter tone that would continue throughout.

Mr Trump said if he won, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs Clinton and she would be in prison over her private email arrangements.

“Everything he just said is absolutely false but I’m not surprised,” she responded. “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.”

“Because you’d be in jail,” he interrupted.
Mr Trump also said his Democratic rival “has tremendous hate in her heart” while criticising her for referring to his supporters as “deplorables”.

Mrs Clinton said she apologised for the comment, adding: “My argument is not with his supporters, it’s with him, about the hateful and divisive campaign he has run.”

The two also sparred on the conflict in Syria, Russian aggression, Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns and his plan for the “extreme vetting” of immigrants arriving from countries with links to terrorism.

The evening concluded when an audience member asked the candidates to say one positive thing about each other.

Mrs Clinton said his children were a great reflection of him while Mr Trump called his opponent “a fighter” who never gives up.

An hour before the debate began, Mr Trump appeared at a press conference with women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

He joined three women who allege the former president sexually assaulted them and called the women “very courageous”.

The Republican was under immense pressure after making obscene comments about women in the video.

At least 33 senior Republicans – including senators, members of Congress, and state governors – have withdrawn their support since the video surfaced on Friday.

Donald Trump entered this debate threatening to unload every bit of malicious allegations and rumours on Hillary Clinton. And he did.

Accusations of Bill Clinton’s sexual impropriety? Check. Her work as a public defender representing a rapist? Yup. He even tied it up in a bow by remarking that his Democratic opponent should be in jail.

Mrs Clinton said she would take the high road, but she did get in her shots as well, saying the illicit video of Mr Trump’s lewd comments showed who he really is.

And then, after that nuclear exchange, the debate chugged along – with Mr Trump often gaining the upper hand. If his weakness is policy knowledge, there were few opportunities where his shortcoming were exposed.

Instead, there was plenty of time for Mrs Clinton to offer a yet another muddled answer on her email server and essentially confirm that the Wikileaks hacked speech excerpts are accurate. Mr Trump offered word salads in answers about healthcare reform and Syria policy. If anything, from there the debate was a draw.

With Mrs Clinton ahead right now, a draw will probably suit her just fine. But it wasn’t the knock-out blow her supporters probably hoped for.

Mrs Clinton also defended controversial remarks she made in a private speech that was made public in leaked emails on Saturday.

The transcript had revealed she said a politician has a public and private position, but at the debate she said she had watched a film about Abraham Lincoln and was referring only to what he had done.

So who are the women?
Mr Trump appeared with Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee who settled a sexual harassment suit against Mr Clinton for $850,000 in 1999 with no admission of guilt.
Juanita Broaddrick, who claimed Mr Clinton raped her in a hotel room in 1978, also appeared with Mr Trump.
Mr Clinton has denied the claim through his lawyer and no charges have ever been brought against him.
The third woman was Kathleen Willey, a former White House aide who said Mr Clinton groped her in his office in 1993, but had previously said it never happened.

Mr Clinton has also denied this claim.

Kathy Shelton, a fourth woman who spoke, encountered Mrs Clinton in a criminal case when she was 12 years old.

Early in Mrs Clinton’s legal career, she was appointed to defend Ms Shelton’s rapist, despite objections, and had his sentence reduced to a lesser charge.

Years later, an audio tape emerged of Mrs Clinton discussing speaking with a reporter, in which she can be heard laughing about the case.

During one instance, she laughed after explaining that her client had passed a lie detector test, which convinced her to never trust them again.

–

Source: BBC

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