Russians are spreading disinformation through a ‘troll factory’ in St. Petersburg, a UK report says.
Russians are increasingly using TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to spread disinformation from a “troll factory,” according to a report published on Sunday by the UK government.
Officials alleged that the operation had links to sanctioned Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of the Internet Research Agency (IRA). US intelligence officials determined that the IRA made a concerted effort to put Trump into the White House in the 2016 presidential elections.
The report commissioned by the UK’s Foreign Office said Russia was engaged in a large-scale disinformation campaign “designed to manipulate international public opinion of Russia’s illegitimate war in Ukraine.”
According to the UK government, the groups operated by turning on VPNs and spamming the comment sections of several platforms including YouTube and Instagram. This made it harder to be detected than if they were posting original content, the report said.
Targets reportedly included high-profile Kremlin critics, UK government officials, and other world leaders.