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Google Officials ‘Find’ Russian-Bought Ads on YouTube, Gmail

Reportedly investigating meddling more widespread than company previously believed.

Google officials have reportedly unearthed evidence that Russian operatives may have exploited the company’s largest platforms—including YouTube and Gmail—in an effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, according to The Washington Post. At least tens of thousands of dollars worth of advertisements were allegedly bought by Kremlin agents who were working to spread messages across Google platforms, said unnamed sources at the company who spoke to Post reporters. Unlike the ads previously discovered on Facebook, the ones on Google products originated from a different place than the troll farm affiliated with the Kremlin. Google has launched a probe into the reported evidence. The Post article follows The Daily Beast’s reports of Russian meddling in U.S. social media, including a Kremlin-supported series of videos on YouTube by black rappers “Williams and Kalvin Johnson” that targeted Hillary Clinton, calling her a racist and a “serial killer.”