Facebook Profit Soars Amid Russia Investigation

Facebook reported a 79 percent jump in profit as revenues in the third quarter boomed from online advertising.

The earnings reported on Wednesday revealed that the social media giant made a profit of $4.7 billion in the quarter that ended on September 30, compared with $2.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Facebook shares have gained almost 60 percent in 2017.

Facebook’s total advertising revenue rose 49 percent in the third quarter to $10.14 billion, about 88 percent of which came from mobile ads.

Facebook in the third quarter gave advertisers for the first time the ability to run ads in standalone videos, outside the Facebook News Feed, and the company is seeing good early results, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told analysts.

“Video is exploding, and mobile video advertising is a big opportunity,” Sandberg said.

This is coming at a time when the company is facing criticism over its failure to prevent Russian operatives from using its platform for election meddling.

Facebook had said that people in Russia bought at least 3,000 U.S. political ads and published another 80,000 Facebook posts that were seen by as many as 126 million Americans over two years.

The political storm in the United States over how Facebook, Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google handle false news stories and political manipulation of their services gathered strength this week as three separate congressional committees held hearings.