DID KUSHNER’S DATA OPERATION HELP SELECT FACEBOOK TARGETS FOR THE RUSSIANS?

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/jared-kushner-data-operation-russia-facebook

The Russians used US social media platforms to rile the electorate. Investigators wonder if they had inside help.


investigators in the House, Senate, and special counsel Robert Mueller’s office are focusing on

• Mapping the full Russian propaganda---via US social media platforms--effort and
• an explosive question: did any Americans help target the memes and fake news to crucial swing districts and wavering voter demographics? probers are intrigued by the role of Jared Kushner, the now-president’s son-in-law, who eagerly took credit for crafting the Trump campaign’s online efforts

In an interview,Kushner told Steven Bertoni of Forbes

“I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them
give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting,” “We brought in Cambridge Analytica.
I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff . . . We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch.”​

Brad Parscale, who Kushner hired to run the campaign’s San Antonio-based Internet operation, has agreed to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee.

Bigger questions, however, revolve around Cambridge Analytica. It is unclear how Kushner first became aware of the data-mining firm, but one of its major investors is billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer. Mercer was also a principal patron of Breitbart News and Steve Bannon, who was a vice president of Cambridge Analytica until he joined the Trump campaign.