FBI agents monitored social media on Election Day for what they believed were Russian government-backed efforts to spread disinformation, CNN reported Friday.
Citing two unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, CNN reported that FBI analysts identified social media accounts they believed were pushing fake news articles on Election Day, and that “the suspicion was that at least some were part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”
One unnamed person briefed on the investigation told CNN the FBI’s operation was “right on the edge of Constitutional legality” because “we were monitoring news.”
The effort was part of a larger push to monitor cyber threats on Election Day, according to the report, with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence holding regular calls with the White House’s situation room.
Top officials ultimately congratulated each other after the day’s vote went uninterrupted, according to the report.
One unnamed Obama White House official disagreed, however: “What they did worked!”, the official told CNN they recalled saying.
