--- title: Facebook: 10 Million People in U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads description: Facebook said that the Russia-linked ads it turned over to Congress on Monday were seen by about 10 million people in the United States canonical: https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-03T00:07:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:09.878Z article:section: Politics og:title: Facebook Says 10 Million People in the U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads og:description: The ads focused on "divisive social and political messages" og:url: https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt065afa3bdd731af9/6988e03d096a94c6b769fd2d/facebook-russian-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: Facebook on smartphones and tv's og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Facebook Says 10 Million People in the U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads twitter:description: The ads focused on "divisive social and political messages" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt065afa3bdd731af9/6988e03d096a94c6b769fd2d/facebook-russian-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Facebook Says 10 Million People in the U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 3, 2017 12:07 AM UTC  The Facebook logo is seen on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration on Aug. 28, 2017. The Facebook logo is seen on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration on Aug. 28, 2017. Jaap Arriens—NurPhoto via Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 3, 2017 12:07 AM UTC Facebook said that the 3,000 Russia-linked advertisements it [turned over to congressional investigators](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/technology/facebook-russia-ads.html) on Monday were seen on the social network by an estimated [10 million people](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/10/hard-questions-russian-ads-delivered-to-congress/) in the United States. The social media company said 44% of the ads were seen before the 2016 presidential election, and 56% of the ads were seen after the election. Facebook turned over the ads this week in the midst of public scrutiny over its role in spreading “fake news” stories that critics say might have influenced the outcome of the election. Russia [created fake accounts on Facebook](http://time.com/4783932/inside-russia-social-media-war-america/) and bought ads with the goal of spreading false stories. And last month, [Facebook said](http://time.com/4930532/facebook-russian-accounts-2016-election/) nearly 500 accounts that originated in Russia purchased $100,000 worth of Facebook ads during the 2016 election. Most of the ads focused on “divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,” Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of policy and communications, said in a [blog post](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/10/hard-questions-russian-ads-delivered-to-congress/) on Monday. “We are continuing to refine our techniques for identifying the kinds of ads in question,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/"},"headline":"Facebook Says 10 Million People in the U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads","datePublished":"2017-10-03T00:07:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:09.878Z","description":"The ads focused on \"divisive social and political messages\"","url":"https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/","keywords":["facebook","2016 Election","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt065afa3bdd731af9/6988e03d096a94c6b769fd2d/facebook-russian-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt065afa3bdd731af9/6988e03d096a94c6b769fd2d/facebook-russian-ads.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Facebook on smartphones and tv's","caption":"Facebook on smartphones and tv's","creditText":"Jaap Arriens—NurPhoto via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/facebook/","name":"facebook"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4966438/facebook-russia-linked-ads-election/","name":"Facebook Says 10 Million People in the U.S. Saw Russia-Linked Ads"}}]}] ```