“Troll armies” refers to organized networks of paid operators who post on social media and comment sections under fake identities to push Russian state narratives, harass critics, and inflame divisions abroad. The best-documented is the Internet Research Agency (IRA) in St. Petersburg, financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, which a U.S. federal grand jury indicted in February 2018 along with thirteen Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. This section covers the IRA and related troll operations.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice. United States v. Internet Research Agency LLC et al., indictment. February 16, 2018.