On Wednesday, as Google’s seat sat empty next to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as they testified to the Select Committee on Intelligence about steps their companies are taking to address election security on their platforms, researchers posted that they had again been able to set up a Google account posing as Russian propaganda company, the Internet Research Agency.
Just the day before, the researchers, working for the advocacy group Campaign for Accountability (CfA), published a report outlining how they had set up another account in the name of the Internet Research Agency and bought divisive ads like those used by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) leading up to the 2016 US presidential election, in rubles.
Despite seeding the account with several potential red flags, the researchers said the ads were approved within 24 hours and garnered 5,787 impressions and 56 clicks at a total cost of 398 rubles (approximately US $6.30) in the two days it ran during June.
A screenshot of the Google Ads account set up by the Campaign for Accountability in the name of the Internet Research Agency.
On Wednesday, during the hearings, the group tweeted that it had been able to set up a Google account using the Internet Research Agency’s tax ID. Google declined to send Alphabet CEO Larry Page or Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai to participate at the hearings.
The committee declined Google’s offer to instead send SVP of global affairs, Kent Walker. To highlight the search giant’s absence, the committee set the empty chair at the table beside the two other executives. The company was called out by Senators on several occasions for its failure to participate.
These reports from the CfA would seem to undermine Google’s assurances in August that it was addressing state-sponsored activity, citing the removal of YouTube channels, email accounts and Google accounts tied to foreign actors.
“Our Threat Analysis Group, working with our partners at Jigsaw and Google’s Trust & Safety team, identifies bad actors, disables their accounts, warns our users about them, and shares intelligence with other companies and law enforcement officials,” wrote Walker in August.
We’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update here with any response we receive.
About The Author
Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media’s Associate Editor, assisting with the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.
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