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Russia was accused by the U.S. authorities for efforts to spread fake news and propaganda in an attempt to meddle in the 2016 US Presidential Election. [ 30][31]Russia is alleged to have used tactics such as creating fraudulent social media accounts, organization of political rallies and online political advertisements in an effort to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumpwin the election.[32] Senior executives of American social media platforms made an effort to counter alleged Russian propaganda by deleting automated accounts and alerting users of the presence of alleged misinformation on their platforms and interactions users may have had. In January 2017, Twitterestimated that approximately 677,000 users had "interacted with Russian propaganda or bots during the 2016 campaign." Three weeks later Twitter officials said that it is likely more than 1.4 million users were exposed to content stemming from these accounts. [ 33][34]In 2018, Twitter deleted approximately 200,000 tweets that were found to have stemmed from accounts linked to Russia.[35] On October 31, 2017, executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter testified on Russia's alleged use of social media in the 2016 election, before the House Intelligence Committee.[36] In an effort to combat fake news, Facebookannounced a plan in January 2018 to attempt to highlight "reliable" sources of news. [ 37]
On May 17, 2017 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinappointed former FBI Director Robert Muellerto serve as special counsel to the US Justice Departmentin an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.[38] On February 16, 2018 The US Justice Departmentindicted thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies on charges of attempting to influence the 2016 election in support of the Trump Campaign.[39] Among the organizations indicted was the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg based company that is said to use social media to spread fake news promoting Russian interests. The indictment claims that employees of the IRA were urged to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary". [ 40]
Russia has been accused of engaging in propaganda campaigns in an effort to sway public opinion concerning the nation's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russian social media operations were allegedly undertaken to use misinformation to appeal to Pro-Russian forces in Crimea, while discrediting rebel and separatist groups. Notably, a false story was spread throughout social media of a young child being crucified by Ukrainian Nationalist Troops in Slovyansk.[41] The Ukrainian government also banned several Russian internet services, including the popular social media network, Vkontakte, which