Want to read the Parliamentary report into Russian interference in UK elections that Johnson blocked? Well the OTHER report from the @CommonsCMS earlier this year gives you some clues. bylinetimes.com/2019/02/18/exp…
The committee estimates that the state-controlled channels RT and Sputnik‘s pro-Leave websites garnered 134 million potential impressions – nearly five times the reach of the two domestic campaigns combined
Had Russia paid for a social media campaign of this scale the committee estimates it would have cost between £1.4 and 4.14 million.
Moreover, the report reveals how the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-backed St Petersburg-based troll farm indicted for election interference in the US, was simultaneously intervening in British politics, with a marked emphasis on stirring up Islamophobia and racial hatred.
It “tried to fuel social divisions, including religious tensions, in the aftermath of the Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park terror attacks”, according to the report.
The Kremlin’s attempts to intervene continue. Last October, Twitter closed down 3,613 new Internet Research Agency accounts. A brief analysis of the data reveals these accounts tweeted about Brexit 1,525 times.
The report concludes by calling for an “independent investigation into past elections” – including the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, the Brexit vote and the 2017 General Election
