Facebook will tell its users whether they interacted with Russian propaganda on its platform, it announced Wednesday morning.
The social network plans to introduce a database that will inform users which Facebook pages from the Kremlin-connected Internet Research Agency they may have liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017. The database will also include Instagram accounts created by the group.
“It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 U.S. election,” the company said in a blog post.
Facebook previously disclosed that the Internet Research Agency had created 80,000 posts on 120 pages that were intended to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. All told, the posts could have reached as many as 126 million people, though not all of those users will have liked or followed the pages.
Earlier this month, Facebook testified in front of Congress about Kremlin-linked activity on its platform. The move signaled that lawmakers are taking the issue seriously.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors on Nov. 1 that curbing abuse on the platform “is more important than maximizing our profits.”
The new portal will be released by the end of the year.
