The Plaza Hotel in New York City, which President Donald Trump once called "the ultimate trophy in the world."The Plaza New York

A reported deal to buy New York's Plaza Hotel is not going as planned, people familiar with the situation tell Business Insider.

CNBC reported in March that Chimera, a foreign entity, was considering running a $375 million-plus ICO, a cryptocurrency twist on the initial public offering process, to help purchase the famed Plaza from the Sahara Group, a firm based in India.

It is a project that "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary alluded to during an appearance on CNBC.

"There's a big deal coming in New York in the next three weeks," O'Leary said, referring to a "very prestigious hotel."

"It's a $400 million coin issuance for a real asset you've heard of," he added.

Still, it's unclear if the ICO will ever happen.

Sources told Business Insider that the deal would first involve a private transaction in which Chimera would raise more than $675 million to purchase the Plaza. A public token offering to pay off the debt from the original transaction was considered as a next step. The sources doubt whether either will come to fruition.

The deal is not progressing, according to multiple people, and it is failing to attract enough investors. The people, who were potential investors, have walked away from the deal.

Multiple sources told Business Insider that O'Leary is not directly involved in the deal, at the moment.

The Plaza has been up for sale since 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal. The property, which can be valued above $500 million, has attracted dozens of potential buyers, The Journal reported.

Once declaring it "the ultimate trophy in the world," President Donald Trump bought the NYC landmark in 1988, declared bankruptcy on the property in 1992, and sold it in 1995.

After it changed hands a few more times, Sahara bought a controlling stake in the Plaza for $570 million in 2012.

Business Insider reached out to O'Leary and Chimera lead investor Shahal Khan and will update this post if they respond. The Sahara Group didn't respond to a request for comment.

You need an incredible amount of money to live in The Peak.Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider

Every city has that neighborhood — an address that signifies wealth. New York City has Fifth Avenue, London has Kensington, and Miami has South Beach.

Hong Kong has The Peak — short for Victoria Peak — a neighborhood that has been synonymous with wealth, luxury, and exclusivity since the colonial era.

As the least affordable city in the world for eight years running, Hong Kong takes the cake when it comes to luxury real estate.

At various times over the past decade, Pollock's Path, Barker Road, and Severn Road — all streets on The Peak — have claimed the title of the world's most expensive street.

The neighborhood is home to a mix of bankers, expatriates, business magnates, celebrities, and, more recently, Chinese millionaires and billionaires looking for a place to invest or vacation away from pollution in cities on the mainland.

It's the kind of neighborhood that consistently breaks records for the most expensive real estate in the world. In 2015, it was rumored that Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire who founded Alibaba, purchased a $191 million mansion there, but it has never been confirmed.

Last month, an unidentified buyer broke the record for the most expensive real estate in Asia, purchasing a 9,217-square-foot villa on The Peak for about $180 million, making it about $19,400 per square foot.

I recently visited the ritzy neighborhood to see why it continues to house some of the most coveted addresses in the world. It did not disappoint.

Length: 1,005 ft

Commissioned: 1991

Carries: 41-53 aircraft. 14 Su-33 fighters, 28 MiG-29K fighters (upcoming), 15 Ka-27 helicopters.

Crew: 1,960 sailors, 626 airmen, 46 command.

Propulsion System: Steam turbines. Eight boilers, two turbines, nine turbogenerators, six diesel generators, four propellers.

History: While the full name — Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov — is a bit of a mouthful,this ship is one of the largest carriers and the flagship of the Russian Navy.

Originally launched in 1985, the Kuznetsov wasn't fully operational until 1995 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Her sister ship, the Varyag, was never commissioned and sold to China as a hulk by Ukraine.

Kuztnetsov became the first Russian aircraft carrier to ever see combat when it was sent to Syria's Mediterranean coast in 2016 to assist in Russian combat operations. Its aircraft flew 420 missions and hit 1,252 targets.

Kuznetsov did, however, show its age by losing two aircraft due to technical malfunctions of the carriers arresting gear. The first incident was in November 2016 when a MiG-29K ran out of fuel while waiting for repairs to the arresting wire, and the second was just a month later, when an Su-33 crashed because the arresting wire failed to hold the aircraft.

Following these mishaps, Kuznetsov's air wing was forced to operate from air bases in Syria until the issues were resolved.

John D. Rockefeller's descendants' firm, Venrock, is getting into bitcoin.Wikimedia

Major cryptocurrencies were trading in the green Sunday morning following reports that two traditional Wall Street firms are eyeing the market for digital currencies.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading up 2.1% at $7,047 a coin, according to Markets Insider data.

It's been a rough start to the year for bitcoin, which saw its price soar by more than 1,300% in 2017, but has not fared as well in 2018.

Reports of a crackdown on cryptocurrency advertisements by tech giants such as Google and Facebook as well as regulatory uncertainty in Asia and the US have weighed on the coin for much of March and April. The coin is down 50% since the beginning of the year.

But investors appeared to be more bullish during Sunday's trade following reports that two Wall Street icons were looking to get into the market for cryptos.

More notably, the investment fund founded by billionaire George Soros is preparing to dive into cryptocurrency trading, even though Soros himself previously described them as a "bubble."

Adam Fisher, who oversees global macroeconomic investing for Soros Fund Management, has gained internal approval to invest in and trade cryptocurrencies, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Also, Venrock — a venture capital firm founded by descendants of famed capitalist John D. Rockefeller — announced it was partnering with a cryptocurrency investment firm based in Brooklyn. Fortune first reported on the partnership.

Anthony Pompliano, whose crypto-focused VC firm Full Tilt was recently acquired by a traditional hedge fund Morgan Creek, told Business Insider these reports are "encouraging" for the nascent bitcoin market.

"It is encouraging to see institutions with the historical track record of Soros and Rockefeller beginning to gain exposure to blockchain and cryptocurrencies," he said.

"I anticipate more and more institutional capital will begin to pour in, hopefully leading to a more mature and sophisticated market."

Apple

Apple pays female employees up to 26% less than men in some parts of its UK and European operations, according to the company's gender pay gap report. However, among all 6,000 Apple employees in the UK, women are paid 5% less overall, on average. That pay gap is smaller than most UK companies, and less than comparable tech companies.

The median female employee (meaning the employee in the middle of the range of data) earns 2% more than her male counterpart, the company reported. That is likely because most of Apple's employees work in its retail stores, as opposed to its London HQ where the management, sales, and engineering staff are located, and retail staff tend to skew female.

Apple has three companies in the UK, and reported numbers for all of them. You can see from the breakdown that the most severe pay disparity occurs in Apple (UK) Ltd, which is distinct from its chain of shops, Apple Retail UK Ltd. In the latter, pay between the genders is comparable or, as the negative percentages indicate, higher for women than men:

Apple

The bonus pay gap at Apple (UK) Ltd represents the most extreme pay disparity at Apple. The median female employee received a 57% lower bonus than her male colleague, and the 50% less as an average of all employees. Among all employees, the average woman's bonus was 22% less than those paid to men:

Apple

Apple has an explanation for this. Men tend to dominate in management (71%), where bonuses are higher, while women are more numerous in the lower ranks of the company (32%), where bonuses are smaller. "The representation of women in our workforce drives our gender pay gap. Thirty percent of our employee population are women. There are also more men in leadership positions, which pay more. And these positions have higher bonuses and stock, resulting in a bonus gap greater than our hourly pay gap," the company said:

Apple

One hundred percent of Apple employees, regardless of their level in the company, receive stock bonus incentives. (New hires whose bonuses have not been paid aren't reflected in the data.)

Apple is pretty eager to point out that it is making strides toward equality. Women are more numerous among its younger ranks, and their numbers have grown overall since 2014:

Apple

While none of this data makes Apple look good, the company also points out that it is doing considerably better than other employers where the pay gap is much worse:

Apple

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki._SJP1857 / Wikimedia Commons

Police identified a 39-year-old woman who shot three people and herself at or near YouTube's headquarters in California as Nasim Najafi Aghdam of San Diego, California.

Aghdam had a strong online presence with multiple YouTube channels, websites, and social media accounts dedicated to her various interests: bodybuilding, vegan activism, crafts, and free speech. As of Tuesday night, all of her social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube were suspended.

Business Insider

A website, nasimesabz.com, is still live.

Nasim Aghdam's website showing her social media accounts, all of which are now suspended. Business Insider

According to Aghdam's father, she had strongly criticised YouTube for apparently censoring her videos online.

There is, clearly, no justification for Aghdam's actions. But she referenced an ongoing debate about major changes to YouTube's policies over the last two years. And the shooting directly illustrates how tough it is for YouTube to implement substantial changes to a site where anyone — including criminals and conspiracy theorists — can post content and gain a significant following.

Through a series of rule changes, YouTube has made it more difficult for some creators to make money from their videos over the last year.

The site changed its rules in February so that creators needed at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours in watchtime in order to continue making money from ads against their videos. Small creators at the time complained it would be difficult to meet the new threshold. Minority creators also felt they would be disproportionately affected by the changes. They new rules are widely referred to as YouTube's "demonetisation" policy.

YouTube also tightened up its rules around appropriate content and hate speech after a series of outrages including:

Finally, YouTube is trying to crack down on spammy, low-quality videos.

All of this means that YouTube has become more proactive when it comes to downgrading promoted videos that might be offensive, adding age-restriction filters, and removing ads from offensive or poor-quality videos.

The changes inflamed creators such as Aghdam who already harboured suspicions that YouTube was censoring them in some way.

Try typing "YouTube censorship" into YouTube's search box, and you will come across an entire conspiracy theory subgenre. Ironically, creators ratchet up tens of thousands of views with videos complaining they are being censored in some way. Usually, it is right-wing commentators, who are actually pretty prominent on the site.

Business Insider

One video that shows up prominently on that search is by vegan activist channel Bite Size Vegan. It is titled "I'm Being Censored — YouTube's War Against Vegans" and shows activist Emily Moran Barwick claiming that YouTube added age restrictions to one of her videos because it contained graphic footage.

Aghdam, who claimed to be vegan, links to this video from her web page alongside complaints that her content had also been "filtered" to stop them getting views. Since Aghdam's channels are now deleted, Business Insider was unable to verify whether her content had indeed been restricted. According to BuzzFeed, she had claimed videos showing her exercising had been age-restricted by "close-minded" YouTube employees.

nasimesabz.com

The incident is a sobering reminder that popular platforms like YouTube generate strong feeling among their users, and that outrage over high-level decisions can be intense. The platform has millions of users, and a small number are extremists or mentally ill, and that outrage reaches them, too. To date, YouTube and other tech firms have tried to avoid policing content posted to their platform — and Tuesday's events make it easy to see why.

Nasim Aghdam. Screenshot via DailyMotion

Police in California reportedly contacted and questioned Nasim Aghdam, the suspect in the YouTube shooting, early in the morning on the day of the attack.

Reports say officers in Mountain View, California — around 30 minutes from the site of the attack in San Bruno — found Aghdam asleep in her car at around 2 a.m. on April 3, and spoke to her.

"Officers located an adult female by the same name asleep in a vehicle in a Mountain View parking lot early this morning," Mountain View spokesperson Katie Nelson told BuzzFeed News. "The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions."

Nelson told Mercury News that "officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California."

Nelson also said officers notified Aghdam's family that she had been located.

Ismail Aghdam, Nasim's father, reportedly contacted law-enforcement officials in the San Diego area on Monday because he was concerned about her grievances toward YouTube.

He is said to have warned that his daughter may be traveling to the company's offices.

It's unclear whether the officers in Mountain View knew of Aghdam's history with YouTube, or her father's warning to San Diego police.

Aghdam lived in San Diego and reportedly "hated" the YouTube, and believed the platform was discriminating against her by demonetizing her videos, Mercury News reported.

Extensive social media records left behind by Aghdam illustrate her dissatisfaction with YouTube's policies and her attempts to spread a vegan and animal rights activist message.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

Saudi Arabia's millennial Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman met with Richard Branson to discuss bringing a high-speed Hyperloop transit system to Saudi Arabia.

The Crown Prince and several other members of Saudi Arabia's defense ministry met at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California to speak with the billionaire Branson and his Virgin Galactic Company, which is developing vehicles for commercial space travel, and discuss potential partnerships with Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Crown Prince and Richard Branson unveil the new Hyperloop One Vision 2030 system. Virgin Hyperloop One/Media Release

The two also touted the idea of developing a high-speed Hyperloop transit system that could carry passengers between the capital city of Riyadh and the major commercial hub of Jeddah, in 76 minutes.

Currently, travel time between the two cities is just over 10 hours by current public-transport methods.

Direct flights take roughly 95 minutes.

The Crown Prince unveiled the Vision 2030 Hyperloop Pod, illustrating the cooperation between the Kingdom and Virgin as part of the Prince's Vision 2030 goal to modernize transport systems.

"Hyperloop is the catalyst to enable all fourth generation technologies to flourish in the Kingdom while creating a vibrant society and thriving economy through visionary cities and high-tech clusters," Prince Mohammed said in a statement from Virgin Hyperloop.

The company asserted that the Hyperloop system could position Saudi Arabia as a "gateway to three continents."

A rendering of a Hyperloop by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

Hyperloop is a high-speed transit system first proposed by Elon Musk in 2013. The goal of the system is to send pods full of passengers through tubes at extremely high speeds.

Hyperloop One was incorporated in 2014 and raised upwards of $160 million from global investors, including Dubai-based DP World. In 2016, the company announced a it was exploring building the transport method in the United Arab Emirates and began mapping out potential routes.

Branson, who founded Virgin Group and is a prolific entrepreneur, invested in the company in 2017, leading to a name change and expansion of services.

The system requires tunnel networks to be built from scratch, leading Musk to create the Boring Company, a startup that is digging underground tunnels that could eventually be used to create vast transport networks.

Musk recently criticized the bureaucratic process required to get such a project off the ground in the US, but countries like Saudi Arabia may ultimately be a better fit, in terms of the Crown Prince's Vision 2030 plans.

Under that initiative, the Crown Prince plans to enhance the country's transport systems and improve infrastructure "internally and across borders," with the help of global partners.

Mobike. Mobike

Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.

1. A shooter opened fire at YouTube's Californian headquarters, leaving one dead and three injured. Police identified the suspected shooter as Nasim Aghdam, who had heavily criticised the site for apparent censorship.

2. Hackers breached a YouTube employee's account to spread misinformation and fake news about the shooting. Vadim Lavrusik had actually been at the shooting and confirmed on Twitter he was safe before hackers took over his account to pretend provocative YouTube creator "Keem" was missing.

3. Music streaming giant Spotify has gone public, closing its first day of trading at $149.01 and a valuation of $26.5 billion. Its first smooth day of trading could pave the way for more tech unicorns to pursue a direct listing rather than IPO.

4. Mark Zuckerberg should step down as chairman on Facebook, according to the man who manages $1 billion in pension fund investments into the firm. New York City comptroller Scott Stringer said Facebook should hire an independent chairman and three directors with data and ethics experience.

5. Apple has poached Google's artificial intelligence chief to lead its own AI strategy. John Giannandrea once ran Google's search unit, but will now help Apple catch up with its rivals.

6. Early Spotify investor Lakestar said it wouldn't be selling its shares when the firm went public, and predicted it would become a $100 billion company. Lakestar founder Lake Hommels first invested his own money into Spotify in 2008.

7. Facebook has deleted more than 200 accounts and pages run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Russian troll factory. The pages spread misinformation during the 2016 US presidential election and were mostly targeted at those who spoke Russian.

8. Instagram is the latest major service to pull app support from the Apple Watch, thanks to Apple's requirements for a "native" app. The move makes sense, given a photo-based app like Instagram isn't great for smaller screens.

9. Chinese on-demand firm Meituan is buying Mobike, the Chinese bike-sharing startup in a deal thought to be worth $2.7 billion. The acquisition gives Mobike a major financial backer as it expands in markets such as Europe.

10. Snap is reportedly in talks to set up an office in Saudi Arabia, and is working with a local foundation on teaching young people how to use Snapchat. Snap would be one of the only Western social media firms operating in the country rather than from Dubai.

A screenshot of a video from an account that appeared to belong to Nasim Aghdam. Screenshot via DailyMotion

The father of Nasim Aghdam, the suspect in the shooting at YouTube's headquarters, reportedly said that she was angry at the video platform, and believed it was discriminating against her. She was missing for several days before the shooting took place.

Ismail Aghdam reportedly contacted law-enforcement officials in the San Diego area on Monday because he was concerned about her grievances toward YouTube, according to a local CBS News affiliate, KCAL-9. Aghdam lived in San Diego.

Aghdam said his daughter had told her family she was angry at YouTube, according to the San Jose newspaper, Mercury News. She reportedly "hated" the company, and believed the platform was discriminating against her, the newspaper reported.

He said law-enforcement officials later contacted him and said they had found his daughter sleeping inside her car in Mountain View, California, about 30 miles southeast of YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno.

The man said he told police that his daughter may be traveling to the company's offices.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed to Mercury News that "officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California."

Aghdam previously criticized YouTube's move to demonetize certain channels. She took issue specifically with what she believed to be a reduction in viewership on her videos.

"There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!," a website that appeared to be linked to her Instagram page said.

On Tuesday evening, several of her social media accounts, including her YouTube channels, were deactivated.

A screenshot of a website promoted by an Instagram account that appeared to belong to Nasim Aghdam. Screenshot via nasimesabz.com

The female suspect in Tuesday's shooting at YouTube's headquarters appeared to have an active presence online. YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook accounts connected to the woman featured a wide range of content — from dancing to fitness tips, and commentary on veganism.

San Bruno police identified the suspected shooter as Nasim Aghdam, 39, on Tuesday night.

The woman had expressed some heavy criticism for YouTube's move to demonetize certain channels. She took issue specifically with what she believed to be a targeted reduction in viewership on her videos.

Aghdam also engaged in some political speech.

"BE AWARE! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics!," a website that appeared to be linked to Aghdam read.

Her alleged Instagram account had over 16,000 followers before it was shut down.

Screenshot via Nasimesabz.com

In one missive about YouTube's move to demonetize certain channels, Aghdam said: "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

Aghdam, a resident of San Diego, reportedly drove from Southern California to San Bruno days before the shooting, the local news station KRON-4 reported.

She is believed to have used a handgun to shoot three people before fatally shooting herself.

A fourth person sustained injuries that were not gun-related.

Investigators earlier on Tuesday said they believed the shooting was connected to a domestic dispute between the woman and her boyfriend, who works at YouTube, a law-enforcement source told Business Insider. The source said authorities do not believe the woman was connected to international terrorism in any way.

San Bruno police later released a statement saying that it was still investigating a motive and that "at this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted."

Multiple local news outlets, including the San Jose-based Mercury News said that Aghdam had been reported missing days before the shooting. The newspaper reported that the woman's father, Ismail Aghdam, said she complained that YouTube "stopped everything" and told her family she was "angry."

20th Century Fox We are hiring a video-editing intern for Tech Insider, a publication that delivers stories to readers across digital platforms.

The role includes shooting and editing videos across a range of subjects, with a focus on technology. You will be working with our tech reporter on both short and long-form videos meant for multiple mediums — YouTube, Facebook, and our website.

Video interns work closely with Tech Insider's reporters and editors to produce stories for a wide, general audience across the web and various social media platforms.

Candidates should know how to edit on Adobe Premiere and how to use Adobe After Effects and Photoshop, various types of audio and digital video equipment including Canon and Sony cameras, and how to shoot awesome video with their smartphones.

This internship position is at our headquarters in New York City. The internship starts in spring/summer 2018, and will run for six months. Interns are encouraged to work full-time (40 hours a week) if their schedule allows.

Our interns are an integral part of our team. We seek out self-starters and people who are enthusiastic about collaborating with reporters, fellow producers, social media editors, and other team members.

This person should also be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, possess excellent communication skills, and be excited about building Business Insider's brand. A background in journalism or video is a huge plus.

If this sounds like your dream job, apply here with a resume and cover letter telling us why you should be a video-editing intern at Tech Insider.

A shooting at the YouTube headquarters sparked panic in San Bruno, California, on Tuesday. Melia Robinson Business Insider

Dennis, the owner of Hashes & Brews, was having a cigarette break outside around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday when he heard loud banging noises that he thought was a nail gun from someone doing construction.

But the numerous successive bangs — 15 or 17 by his count — sounded too rapid to be a nail gun.

He looked across the street and saw "a whole bunch of people just trampling over each other, coming out the front doors of YouTube. They were running, people just running."

Dennis, who declined to give his last name, waved a group of three of them into the restaurant.

One man was bleeding from the face, Dennis told Business insider. But the wound was not severe — as if a bullet had perhaps grazed him, Dennis said. He brought over towels and a first aid kit, and directed the man to the bathroom to wash up. Another woman had a bullet lodged into the sole of her leather shoe.

Melia Robinson Business Insider

"They were shaking, they were making me shake. This is a situation where you see in the movies, not in real life," Dennis said, as he described a shooting at YouTube's San Bruno, California, headquarters on Tuesday that left one person dead and at least four wounded.

Police said a female was found inside the YouTube building with what they believed to be self-inflicted wounds, though the complete details of the event, including the identity of the shooter and any motive, remain unclear.

But employees and bystanders who fled the scene on Tuesday described the chaotic events to Business Insider reporters.

A cook at YouTube's in-house cafeteria, who gave his name only as Paul, described how an ordinary day on the job quickly turned into terror.

"We're prepping for lunch, and then all of a sudden I see a coworker bolt inside. He's slipping on the floor, he's like, 'Get out, get out! This is not a drill.'"

"We dropped everything and got into the service elevator. Thank God we had that. Went down the elevator. My instincts said let me get out and get my car at least."

YouTube employees and on-lookers in San Bruno have been evacuated from the campus. Melia Robinson Business Insider

One person with a gunshot wound in the leg sought refuge at a Carl's Jr. restaurant across the street from the YouTube building. Mike Finney, one of the Carl's Jr. employees, tried to help staunch her bleeding, a spokesperson for the Carl's Jr. parent company confirmed to Business Insider.

Later in the afternoon, Paul, the YouTube cook, was sitting outside that same Carl's Jr. restaurant trying to make sense of his experience. All of his personal belongings were still inside the YouTube building, he said, and it was unclear when he would be able to retrieve them.

YouTube employees fleeing the scene of the shooting entered a Carl's Jr. restaurant located across the street from the campus. Melia Robinson Business Insider Although he never saw the shooter, the chaotic escape out of the kitchen and through the loading area in the garage was imprinted in his memory.

"There were still people loading things who were clueless, who didn't know what's going on. They didn't see anything. They don't even know why I'm running out," he said.

His experience also raises questions about the security that YouTube had in place at the building, something which may become important as investigators review how the event happened.

"You got to badge in and out of every single room," he said, adding that during his orientation at YouTube: "They made it such a big deal about how the security is so intense here."

"And I'm like, why is the garage open during broad daylight," he said.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Facebook announced Tuesday that it has removed 70 Facebook accounts, 138 Facebook pages, and 65 Instagram profiles linked to a notorious Russian troll factory that spread disinformation in an effort to interfere in the 2016 US election.

Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos said in a news release that 95% of the pages that had been removed were in Russian and targeted Russians or those who speak Russian, particularly in neighboring countries like Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan.

The accounts and pages in question were controlled by the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm based in St. Petersburg that was indicted by the special counsel Robert Mueller in February for mounting a social media influence operation to sway voters in favor of then Republican candidate Donald Trump.

In total, Stamos said the 138 Facebook pages and 65 Instagram accounts that were removed reached approximately 1.5 million unique users. The press release did not provide information on how many users the 70 IRA-linked Facebook accounts reached.

Stamos said the company had removed the latest set of pages and accounts "solely because they were controlled by the IRA — not based on the content."

"This included commentary on domestic and international political issues, the promotion of Russian culture and tourism as well as debate on more everyday issues," he added.

Facebook will be updating its Help Center tool in the next few weeks so users can check whether they liked or followed any IRA-linked pages.

Facebook's announcement, titled, "Authenticity Matters: The IRA Has No Place on Facebook," comes as the social media giant faces heightened scrutiny over a security issue that allowed the data firm Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal information of 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Critics largely pointed a finger at Facebook for failing to notify users of the incident and adequately protect their private data.

Last year, Facebook announced that it had detected Russian activity on its platform that took place before, during, and after the 2016 election. In particular, the company said that "inauthentic" accounts most likely operating out of Russia had purchased $100,000 worth of political ads between 2015 and 2016.

The Russian-bought ads reached approximately 10 million people and targeted users in Michigan and Wisconsin, both of which were critical to Trump's victory. Russia-linked groups didn't limit their interference buying ads and posting memes — they tried to organize anti-immigrant, anti-Clinton rallies in Texas and Idaho.

On Tuesday, Stamos said Russian actors had spent around $167,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads since January 1, 2015.

But Russia's disinformation campaign on the social media platform long predates that. Before they capitalized on Facebook to promote fake news and divisive ads to the American public, and to organize anti-Clinton or pro-Trump rallies in different states, Russian trolls used the social-media platform to push out Ukrainian activists, The Daily Beast reported in September.

Though it's unclear when pro-Kremlin trolls' campaign against the activists began, it reportedly reached its apex in 2014 and 2015, shortly after Russia annexed the territory of Crimea and significantly ramped up its aggression against neighboring Ukraine.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized by those who say he shrugged off warnings about the fake-news epidemic on the platform. The Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama asked him just after the election to take it seriously, but that Zuckerberg replied that the company's power to control the spread of information was limited.

Under mounting pressure, however, Zuckerberg announced in September that Facebook had developed a nine-point plan to examine the Russian influence campaign and prevent similar efforts in the future.

Meanwhile, Twitter estimated last November that the 36,746 Russia-linked accounts on its platform "generated approximately 1.4 million automated, election-related tweets, which collectively received approximately 288 million impressions" just from September 1 to November 15 last year.

The US intelligence community concluded in January 2017 that the social-media operation was part of a larger influence campaign by Russia — and that assessment, according to former intelligence chief James Clapper, "did serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy" of the election outcome.