Identity theft, Hillary Clinton impersonators clad in prison uniforms and a small army churning out social media posts designed to divide.
Those are just a few of the strategies deployed by a Russian organization to interfere in the 2016 election, "disparage" Hillary Clinton and support Donald Trump's campaign, according to a federal grand jury indictment announced by special counsel Robert Mueller Friday.
The Russian group, the Internet Research Agency, had a monthly budget of $1.2 million to fuel what the indictment called "information warfare." The operation was divided into departments including, a data analysis department, graphic designers, finance department and an information technology flank. The indictment — part of Mueller's ongoing probe into Moscow's election meddling — charged 13 Russian nationals and three entities in the scheme.
According to the indictment, here's how they did it.
Research, research, research
A team of Russians traveled across the U.S. starting in 2014 with a mission — to understand the U.S. political landscape and how it played out on social media. Traveling under false pretenses, the team gathered intelligence that would later inform their misinformation campaign.One Russian traveled to Nevada, California, New Mexico, Texas and New York. In another case, Russians posed as Americans and contacted a grassroots political organization in Texas. The Texans provided some valuable insight: focus on states that could swing either way in the upcoming election.
Source : nbcnews
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