U.S. Operations Through Twitter

¶A number of IRA employees assigned to the Translator Depaii ment served as Twitter specialists. One IRA manual described the role of Twitter operations as the "creation of political intensity through suppo1i ing radical groups, users dissatisfied with [the] social and economic situation and oppositional social movements."⁶³⁶³ 3/2/15 Email, (attachment) (translated).

¶The IRA's Twitter operations involved two strategies. First, IRA specialists operated ce1iain Twitter accounts to create individual U.S. personas, which they used to publish "different content and publish messages, communicate with real Twitter users in real time, and perfonn typical actions."⁶⁴⁶⁴ 3/2/15 Email, [Redacted: (b) (3), (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] (attachment) (translated). Sepai·ately, the IRA operated a network of automated Twitter accounts (commonly refened to as a bot network) that enabled the IRA to amplify existing content on Twitter.

Individualized Accounts

¶According to the IRA' s manual, the goal when operating individualized accounts was to obtain "sufficient reaction of real users of Twitter, and also, if it is possible, a reaction of mass media."⁶⁵⁶⁵ 3/2/15 Email, [Redacted: (b) (3), (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] (attachment) (translated). In another internal IRA document, the IRA explained the goal of these accounts was "interaction with target accounts (politicians, public figures , public opinion leaders in the USA) ." 66 The IRA operated individualized Twitter accounts similar to the operation of its Facebook accounts, by continuously posting original content to the accounts while also communicating with U.S. Twitter users directly (through public tweeting or Twitter's private messaging) .

¶The IRA used many of these accounts to attempt to influence U.S. audiences on the election. Individualized accounts used to influence the U.S. presidential election included @TEN_GOP (described above); @jenn_abrams (claiming to be a Virginian Trnmp supporter with 70,000 followers); @Pamela_Moore13 (claiming to be a Texan Trnmp suppo1ter with 70,000 followers); and @America_l st_ (an anti-immigration persona with 24,000 followers). 67 In May 2016, the IRA created the Twitter account @march_for_trnmp, which promoted IRA-organized rallies in suppo1t of the Tnnnp Campaign (described below).⁶⁸⁶⁸ See@march_for_trnmp, 5/30/ 16 Tweet (first post from account). ° 7 For example, one IRA account tweeted, "To those people, who hate the Confederate flag. Did you know that the flag and the war wasn't about slave1y, it was all about money." The tweet received over 40,000 responses. @Jenn_Abrams 4/24/17 (2:37 p.m.) Tweet.

¶Internal IRA documents show that the IRA monitored and analyzed the content posted to these accounts to ensure they appeared to be actual U.S . persons and properly tailored to the U.S . election. In one IRA document entitled "Content Analysis of Conservative Groups," an IRA employee reviewed an IRA-controlled Twitter account. The review criticized ce1tain posts, writing "[p]osts like this rather benefit Clinton than our agenda." The reviewer clarified:

Clinton should be po1trayed as a suppo1ter of illegal Latinos from poor countries of South America creeping across the US border, gangsters from drng caitels of Latin America, American Muslim migrants. The emphasis should be made on the role of so-called "undocumented Democrats" in the elections - there are Inillions of them and with their aid Clinton hopes to replicate Obama's success by getting more votes. 69

¶Using these accounts and others, the IRA provoked reactions from users and the media. Multiple IRA-posted tweets gained populai·ity.70 U.S . media outlets also quoted tweets from IRA-controlled accounts and attributed them to the reactions of real U.S . persons.⁷¹⁷¹ Josephine Lukito & Chiis Wells, Most Major Outlets Have Used Russian Tweets as Sources for Partisan Opinion: Study, Columbia Journalism Review (Mar. 8, 2018); see also Twitter Steps Up to &<plain #NewYorkValues to Ted Cruz, Washington Post (Jan. 15, 2016) (citing IRA tweet); People Are Slamming the CIA/or Claiming Russia Tried to Help Donald Trump, U.S. News & World Repo1t (Dec. 12, 2016). Siinilarly, numerous highprofile U.S. persons, including former Ambassador Michael McFaul,⁷²⁷² @McFaul 4/30/16 Tweet (responding to tweet by @Jenn_Abrams). Roger Stone,⁷³⁷³ @RogerJStoneJr 5/30/16 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_Moore13); @RogerJStoneJr 4/26/16 Tweet (same). Sean Hannity,⁷⁴⁷⁴ @seanhannity 6/21/17 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_Moore13). and Michael Flynn Jr.,⁷⁵⁷⁵ @mflynnJR 6/22/17 Tweet ("RT @Jenn_Abrams: This is what happens when you add the voice over of an old documentary about mental illness onto video of SJWs. . ."). retweeted or responded to tweets posted to these IRA-controlled accounts. Multiple individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign also promoted IRA tweets (discussed below).

IRA Botnet Activities

¶An IRA manual described the organization's bot network and the activities needed to maintain the network.⁷⁶⁷⁶ A botnet refers to a network of private computers or accounts controlled as a group to send specific automated messages. On the Twitter network, botnets can be used to promote and republish ("retweet") specific tweets or hashtags in order for them to gain larger audiences.

There is a botnet of accounts to work in American Twitter which is under joint control of all bloggers [Twitter specialists]. Botnet accounts are divided by gender and race due to differences in the subjects they publish. Bloggers use special software for posting messages and adding followers to maintain bot network in proper condition. The bot network is monitored and defects and malfunction of particular accounts are eliminated on a daily basis. There is a need to create and register new bot accounts because of periodic loss of some accounts due to bans from Twitter. . . . To maintain the bot network in American part of Twitter there is a need to specialize bot accounts to make them look more real.⁷⁷⁷⁷ 3/2/15 Email, [Redacted: (b) (3), (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] (attachment) (translated).

¶According to the IRA manual, it was the responsibility of all Twitter specialists to "participate in supporting and socializing a bot network to control the accounts prepared for automatization, and to prepare messages to get a hashtag to the top in relevant topics."⁷⁸⁷⁸ 3/2/15 Email, [Redacted: (b) (3), (b) (7)(A), (b) (7)(E)] (attachment) (translated).

¶In January 2018, Twitter publicly identified 3,814 Twitter accounts associated with the IRA. According to Twitter, in the ten weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, these accounts posted approximately 175,993 tweets, "approximately 8.4% of which were electionrelated."⁸⁰⁸⁰ Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018). Twitter also reported identifying 50,258 automated accounts connected to the Russian government, which tweeted more than a million times in the ten weeks before the election. Twitter also announced that it had notified approximately 1.4 million people who Twitter believed may have been in contact with an IRA-controlled account.⁸¹⁸¹ Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018). -