Internet Research Agency

The Internet "Research" Agency (IRA) is a Russian troll farm operating out of The troll farm became notorious for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on behalf of former Troll-in-Chief and Putin fanboy Donald Trump. It has also been involved in running pro-Kremlin propaganda networks regarding the War in Ukraine since 2014.
The IRA was founded in mid-2013.
The hunt for Russian internet trolls started in the US." - Note the source link is in Ukrainian The terms "Trolls from Olgino" or "Olgino's trolls" have become a sort of catch-all label for paid agents spreading Russian propaganda online, and does not necessarily refer to the IRA proper."Internet trolls from Olgino start talking in English and Ukrainian." - source link is in Russian
==The trolls themselves==
The actual trolls in question are often just young people looking for a job.Trolls: everything you wanted to know The trolls themselves are mostly politically illiterate about foreign affairs. To quote the US State Department: 
The trolls work 12 hour shifts where they are expected to endlessly type bullshit that serves Russian interests. If an employee is even slightly late to work, they get fined 500 rubles, or "about 9 USD."
===The founder===
The company was founded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin,Russian mercenary chief says he is also behind global information war by Aaron Gregg et al. (February 16, 2023 at 2:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post. a man who until recently was a close confidante of Putin."Putin and Wagner boss Prigozhin: How a long friendship turned ugly" - BBC. Published August 27th, 2023.) Prigozhin also had a hand in founding the Russian mercenary company named the Wagner Group.
Prigozhin was among those indicted by Special Counsel Mueller for Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election."Mueller indicts 13 Russian nationals over 2016 election interference" - CNN. Published February 2nd, 2018. 
Prigozhin reportedly didn't care all that much about being named in the indictment. We are going to quote his exact (apathetic) words on the subject below:
Prigozhin was also named in the indictment as controlling "Concord Catering", a company that funds the IRA. The indictment goes on to say that by September of 2016 the budget for the project that included the interference campaign "exceeded 73 million rubles", or over 1.2 million US dollars.
In a February 2023 interview conducted on a Wagner Group Telegram channel, Prigozhin admitted to being the founder of the IRA:
On August 23rd, 2023, almost two months after Wagner's mutiny, Prigozhin died aboard an airplane leaving Moscow under fairly suspicious circumstances.
==Interference in the 2016 US presidential election==
The IRA engaged in organized astroturf campaigns on social media on behalf of Trump as part of the wider Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The Russians' goal was to ruin any chance of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton winning the election."Through email leaks and propaganda Russians sought to elect Trump, Mueller finds" - The Washington Post Both the Trump campaign and the Russians used similar tactics to stoke deep political discord within the United States electorate, including through social media and "selective leaking".
The Russian social media astroturf campaign began in 2014 as a "generalized program" to fuck with United States politics, but by 2016 had grown to favor Trump and disparage Clinton specifically. The IRA, which received funding from "an oligarch linked to Putin," created fake accounts on Twitter and Instagram and opened group pages on Facebook to "attract followers" with their polemic bullshit on "race, gender, and other polarizing content." The attention the astroturf campaign received grew, and eventually millions of Americans were viewing their bullshit. It helped that American political figures would spread the Russian bullshit even further.
Some IRA employees would even travel to the United States to conduct research on their targets and gather photographs for their posts. These Russians in particular were among those indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 12 of the 13 Russians named in the indictment worked for the IRA in some capacity.
Russian trolls stole the identities of American citizens to use as cover for their social media ops."Exposing Russia’s Effort to Sow Discord Online: The Internet Research Agency and Advertisements" - US House of Representatives The trolls also bought political advertisements in the name of "US individuals and companies." The Russians also, without revealing that they were foreign agents, American personalities to "promote and disparage" candidates. 
According to the Intelligence Community Assessment, Putin personally ordered interference in the 2016 election. What this means is that the "trolls from Olgino" were not rogue agents, but operating with orders directly from the Kremlin. Putin also personally favored Trump, and ordered for an organized character assassination campaign against Madame Clinton.
==Ukraine==
The IRA has been heavily involved in running an anti-Ukraine propaganda campaign on social media. Starting in April 2014, a systemic effort had begun by Russian propagandists to shift Western perceptions of the unrest following the Euromaidan crisis that overthrew the previous pro-Russian government.Documents show how Russia's troll army hit America" - Buzzfeed News. Published on June 2, 2014. Leaked documents also contained instructions for the Russian trolls to engage in and flood prominent American media sites (social and otherwise) with pro-Kremlin horseshit. To quote Buzzfeed News:
In 2016, the Ukrainian state-owned news platform claimed that a network of pro-Kremlin bots had been operating on social networking platforms which called for violence against the Ukrainian government and spread calls to start the "Third Maidan". Ukrinform went on to identify the person supposedly behind the bot network in question: Sergiy Zhuk, a veteran of the on the side of the pro-Russian insurgents. He was alleged to run the bot network from a neighborhood in Moscow.Moscow's cyber roaches, or who's calling for the 'Maidan 3.0'". - Note that the source link is in Ukrainian.
==See also==
*Think tank - These are, like the IRA, propaganda mills, just with a more intellectual (and therefore professional) veneer.
*Professional troll - What these guys in effect are.
*Wagner Group - Another one of Prigozhin's ventures to further Russian interests on the international stage. In the case of Wagner, they operate in meatspace as mercenaries rather than cyberspace as paid trolls.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Fake news
Category:Government surveillance
Category:Politics
Category:Propaganda
Category:Russia
Category:Trolls
Category:Trumpism
Category:Vatniks