Recently, America's tech giants have come under fire
for the role they they've played in helping Russian trolls
spread divisive messages online.
And it turns out that this problem
is a lot worse than we first thought.
For months, we've heard about Russian efforts
to divide Americans and disrupt the 2016 election,
by flooding social media with provocative ads.
Today, Congress released a sample.
TV REPORTER: There's this ad, Hillary Clinton with horns,
pitted in a battle against Jesus Christ.
TV REPORTER: Woke Blacks, South United,
and Back the Badge, focused on divisive issues
and targeted information to specific audiences.
All right. This is really depressing,
both for America and for Russian spies,
because, in the old days,
espionage meant using exploding pens
and poison tipped umbrellas, you know?
Now they have to use the same tool as your divorced aunt.
But-but this is shocking news.
No matter what your politics are-- think about it--
with just $100,000,
Russian ads targeted 11.4 million Americans.
But what had a wider reach
were the free Facebook groups that they set up,
which reached 126 million Americans.
That many people were exposed to these posts
that Russia sent out.
What's also shocking is just how much Russia knew
about American politics, right?
They knew about state border patrols, the wokeness debate,
even about Texas' succession.
That is way more than we know about their politics.
Let's be honest.
Like, I don't know about you, if I was trying
to sneak into an online Russian political debate,
I would be found out in a second. I'd be like,
(with Russian accent): "Hey, comrade.
"Don't we hate snow?
"Uh, we love snow.
Uh..."
So, after all these revelations, Congress demanded answers
from the tech giants-- Google, Facebook and Twitter--
but, uh, because no one in Congress
knows how to use a computer,
they had to bring the Internet to them in person.
And right away it became clear that social media companies
missed some of the obvious signs of Russian meddling.
You put billions of data points together all the time.
Google has all knowledge that man has ever developed.
You can't put together rubles
with a political ad and go like,
"Hmm, those two data points
spell out something bad."
Senator, it's-it's a signal
we should have been, uh, alert to.
And-and, in hindsight, it's one we missed.
Okay, okay, yeah. Uh...
Oh, wow.
-Oh. -(cheering, applause)
I love that...
I love that, even in real life, Facebook conversations
devolve into anger and frustration.
Because look at Al Franken--
he's doing a real-life facepalm emoji.
Like, look at him. The only thing missing
was some random person popping in with a racial slur,
and that's only because Jeff Sessions
isn't in the Senate anymore.
Senator Franken got nowhere with Facebook during this hearing.
In fact, by the end of it, they wouldn't even agree
to not take North Korea's money.
If-if a political ad was paid for by a North Korean won,
will you pledge not to put it on?
The-the currency signal-- I understand your point--
it's a signal we should have...
-we should have missed. -No, you can't say no to that.
-The currency signal... -You can't say no to that.
-It's very easy to manip... -Please answer yes or no, sir.
It's relatively easy for bad actors to switch currencies,
so it's... it's a signal, but it's not enough,
-we have to sweep more broadly. -Well, then if it...
Why would anyone use the North Korean won?
Why would a bad actor go, like, "I'm gonna trick Facebook,
I'm gonna use the North Korean won"?
I'm sorry.
Al Franken is hilarious.
This guy's so funny. He should go into comedy. Wow.
And look, I do understand why he's so frustrated, though.
Facebook loves money so much that they're not willing
to put a limit on who they take it from? You know?
Any question, anything?
So, would you guys let Hitler buy ads on Facebook?
"Well, I mean, how else will he reach his fans
in Charlottesville? I mean, uh, don't know."
But you would think that Facebook would be a little more
discerning, given the financial shape that they're in.
For instance, just last quarter,
they had ten billion dollars in revenue.
That's over $100 million a day.
Do you understand how much money that is?
You could eat sushi every day.
And, now, I know some people will be like,
"Trevor, what does it matter, right?
"Some Facebook groups sent out some memes,
people are fighting online-- that's what we all do anyway."
Yeah, but, you see, the difference
is these Russian accounts-- they weren't just trolling, right?
They were working hard to mess with how people voted.
I want to first, uh, show you...
from Twitter, a deliberate misleading
of people that they can vote,
in effect, online,
using this...
celebrity's image--
Aziz Ansari, he's well-known to the group
that's likely to believe it--
prompted some people to think they voted.
You see?
Now, that fake picture
is not just some viral meme, that's disgusting.
Not only because some people would be fooled
into thinking they can vote online.
But more importantly,
they impersonated Aziz Ansari,
which makes him look bad.
And he must be so angry.
Luckily, we have Aziz Ansari right now,
live, on the phone. Aziz Ansari, everybody!
-Joining us live! -(cheering, applause)
Uh, Aziz, what's going on, man?
(à la Aziz): Hey, Trevor, man, thanks so much
for having me on the show, dude.
(normal voice): Oh, any time, Aziz.
Uh, you-you must be furious at the Russians.
(à la Aziz): I'm so mad, man. This is so crazy.
All these people pretending to be me, man.
I'm just trying to live my life and see this.
And I'm like, "What?"
Now I work for the Russians, dude?
By the way, Trevor, can I just say, man,
The Daily Show is the greatest show of all time, dude.
Like, you totally should have been in The Lion King, man.
Like, you would be in The Lion King, dude.
You'd be the greatest person... All right, got to go, man. Bye.
(laughter)
(cheering and applause)
That was the real Aziz Ansari, everybody.