A shocking investigation by independent US news site ProRepublica found that the world’s largest social network was allowing advertisers to direct their “promoted posts” to people who had expressed interest in the topics “Jew hater”, “How to burn Jews” or “History of ‘why Jews ruin the world’”.

When contacted, Facebook apologised and said that the anti-Semitic categories had been created by an algorithm rather than people. Ad categories on the site are automatically generated based on what people list as their interests, employer or ‘field of study’.

In early September, meanwhile, the social network admitted that fake accounts and pages associated with Russia had been allowed to spend around £74,000 ($100,000) on ads with “divisive messages” during the 2016 US presidential election season.

Mark Zuckerberg has since said that the 3,000 “inauthentic” advertisements will be turned over to Congress in the US for investigation. There have long been concerns about the political ramifications of “fake news” and ads being promoted and disseminated on Facebook, with many commentators arguing that these strategies helped secure the victory of President Donald Trump.

Images: Pexels / Rex Features

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