Mueller Says Russians Used PayPal to Buy Facebook Ads
- Indictment details effort to sow discord in 2016 election
- Digital payments company says it cooperated with Russia probe
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Russian operatives using social media to manipulate the U.S. election bought their Facebook ads in a sophisticated manner: stealing the identities of Americans and opening accounts at PayPal Holdings Inc.
“Defendants and their co-conspirators also obtained, and attempted to obtain, false identification documents to use as proof of identity in connection with maintaining accounts and purchasing advertisements on social media sites,” according to an indictment issued Friday by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The indictment described a multiyear effort by Russia’s Internet Research Agency and others to shape American opinions, including by impersonating Americans on Facebook, Instagram, Google’s YouTube and Twitter Inc.