Thread by @MuellerRepTweet

THREAD/

II. RUSSIAN "ACTIVE MEASURES" SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

The first form of Russian election influence came principally from the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian organization funded by Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and companies he controlled, including [Concord]

The IRA conducted social media operations targeted at large US audience with the goal of sowing discord in the U.S. political system.

These operations constituted "active measures," .. aimed at influencing the course of international affairs.

#MuellerReport
V1 p14

The IRA and its employees began operations targeting the US as early as 2014.

Using fictitious U.S. personas, IRA employees operated social media accounts and group pages designed to attract U.S. audiences.

These groups and accounts, which addressed divisive US political and social issues, falsely claimed to be controlled by U.S. activists.

Over time, these social media accounts became a means to reach large U.S. audiences.

IRA employees travelled to the US in mid-2014 on an intelligence-gathering mission to obtain information and photographs for use in their social media posts.

#MuellerReport
V1 p14

IRA employees posted derogatory information about a number of candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

By early to mid-2016, IRA operations included supporting the Trump Campaign and disparaging candidate Hillary Clinton.

The IRA made various expenditures to carry out those activities, including buying political advertisements on social media in the names of U.S.
persons and entities.

#MuellerReport
V1 p14

IRA employees, posing as US persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated electronically with individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and with other .. activists to seek to coordinate political activities, including the staging of political rallies.

The investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the IRA's interference operation.

By the end of the 2016 U.S. election, the IRA had the ability to reach millions of US persons through their social media accounts.

Multiple IRA-controlled Facebook groups and Instagram accounts had hundreds of thousands of U.S. participants.

IRA-controlled Twitter accounts separately had tens of thousands of followers, including multiple U.S. political figures who retweeted IRA-created content.

In Nov 2017, a Facebook representative testified that Facebook had identified 470 IRA-controlled Facebook accounts that collectively made 80,000 posts between Jan 2015 and Aug 2017.

#MuellerReport
V1 p15

Facebook estimated the IRA reached as many as 126 million persons through its Facebook accounts.

#MuellerReport
V1 p15

In Jan 2018, Twitter announced that it had identified 3,814 IRA-controlled Twitter accounts and notified approximately 1.4 million people Twitter believed may have been in contact with an iRA-controlled account.

#MuellerReport
V1 p15

A. Structure of the Internet Research Agency

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

The organization quickly grew.

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

The growth of the organization also led to a more detailed organizational structure.

[redacted: HOM]

#MuellerReport
V1 p15

Two individuals headed the IRA's management: its general director, Mikhail Bystrov, and its executive director, Mikhail Burchik.

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

As early as spring 2014, the IRA began to hide its funding and activities.

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

The IRA's US operations are part of a larger set of interlocking operations known as "Project Lakhta,"

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

#MuellerReport
V1 p16

B. Funding and Oversight from Concord and Prigozhin

Until at least February 2018, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two Concord companies funded the IRA. Prigozhin is a wealthy Russian businessman who served as the head of Concord.

[redacted: HOM]

#MuellerReport
V1 p16

Prigozhin was sanctioned by the US Treasure Dept in Dec 2016.

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

Numerous sources have reported on Prigozhin's ties to Putin, and the two have appeared together in public photographs.

[redacted: HOM]

#MuellerReport
V1 p17

[redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]

#MuellerReport
V1 p18

IRA's employees were aware that Prigozhin was involved in the IRA's US operations,

[redacted: HOM]

In May 16, IRA employees, claiming to be US social activists and administrators of Facebook groups, recruited US persons to hold signs (including in front of the White House) ..

C. The IRA Targets US Elections

1. The IRA Ramps Up US Operations As Early As 2014

The IRA's US operations sought to influence public opinion through online media and forums.

By the spring of 2014, the IRA began to consolidate US operations within a single general department, known internally as the "Translator" department.

#MuellerReport
V1 p19

https://twitter.com/MuellerRepTweet/status/1138252733146980356