Pro-Russian trolls are waging an information war through an old factory in St. Petersburg targeting Western leaders and spreading Kremlin propaganda about the war in Ukraine, the British government warned today, commissioning a study.
The study, the authors of which were not named for security reasons, “shows how the Kremlin uses a troll factory to spread lies on social media and with comments on high-traffic sites,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
According to London, this Russian disinformation campaign “is designed to manipulate international public opinion about the Russian war in Ukraine”.
According to the investigation, pro-Russian agents are recruiting telegrams to the Telegram that are being paid to target social media accounts and Western leaders to broadcast pro-Kremlin propaganda.
“We can not allow the Kremlin and its troll factories to invade our websites with their lies,” said Liz Tras, the UK’s foreign secretary. “The British government has alerted its partners abroad and will continue to work with allies and online platforms to combat Russian business.”
Among the targets of the trolls are British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Soltz and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Daft Punk, David Guetta and the German band Rammstein have also been the target of this misinformation campaign, as they are active on social media, with frequent posts on Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok.
Another technique used by these trolls is to boost and give more visibility to posts by ordinary users that are aimed at the Kremlin, the study said. A way to get away from the measures taken by social networks to combat misinformation on their platforms.
A group known in the Telegram as “Cyber Front Z” is said to be at the center of these actions and has set up its facilities at a former arms factory located in St. Petersburg.
The group is suspected of being linked to Yevgeny Prigogine, an Kremlin-linked oligarch who has been widely accused of playing a role in Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election, the British Foreign Office said.
Prigogine is among those who have been sanctioned by London over its relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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