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Recode Daily: Investigators look for clues after the Las Vegas massacre

Plus, 10 million U.S. Facebook users saw Russia-backed ads; the man hunting down those ads; and the made-for-Instagram museum.

A makeshift memorial — a vase of roses — placed on a traffic island on Las Vegas Blvd., near the site of the shooting.
A makeshift memorial — a vase of roses — placed on a traffic island on Las Vegas Blvd., near the site of the shooting.
Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Investigators don't know why a gunman killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 on Sunday night. ISIS has taken credit for Stephen Paddock's actions, but there's lots of skepticism about that claim; follow New York Times terrorism expert Rukmini Callimachi for that thread. Almost as soon as the shooting stopped, the fake news and online hoaxes began. Facebook’s Safety Check feature — which had a page dedicated to “The Violent Incident in Las Vegas, Nevada” — was a godsend for anyone with friends or family near Las Vegas, but the page also showed graphic videos from the scene, and the heavily trafficked service was quickly overrun by scammers and con artists. [The New York Times]

About 10 million Facebook users in the U.S. saw ads purchased by Russia-backed sources before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. After Facebook handed over 3,000 Russia-backed ads to congressional investigators, the company also committed to making its ad-buying process more transparent to users. The ads in question came in many disguises, with versions aimed at gun-rights supporters, gay-rights activists and animal lovers. And at this point, does even Mark Zuckerberg know what Facebook is? [Tony Romm / Recode]

Meet the man doing the dirty work of hunting down those ads for Facebook — the company’s chief security officer and a big supporter of end-to-end encryption, Alex Stamos. If the social giant appears in front of Congress later this fall to answer questions about how its network was abused by Russian organizations, it’s possible that Stamos will be asked to represent the company. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]

Tesla said it would produce 1,500 Model 3 electric cars in the third quarter, but made 260, not even 20 percent of its goal. Elon Musk’s company attributed it to “production bottlenecks,” and emphasized that there are no problems with production or supply chain. Tesla is being watched closely by the industry and Wall Street to see whether it will be able to successfully manufacture a mass-market car. [Johana Bhuiyan / Recode]

Tom Petty died at 66. His manager said he had suffered cardiac arrest on Monday morning. Petty had made hit records since the 1970s, and was touring as recently as last month. [YouTube]

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Selfie factories

The Museum of Ice Cream, the Rain Room, the Color Factory and the rise of the made-for-Instagram museum. [Arielle Pardes / Wired]


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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