Internet Research Agency
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Search complete. 31 mentions across 22 episodes found for "Internet Research Agency".
Oct 5, 2026
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
That was the year the world learned that fake accounts could move real opinions.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
In the run-up to the US presidential election, a Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency ran thousands of fake American accounts across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
Investigators later found that its posts had reached as many as a hundred twenty-six million people on Facebook alone.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
For years, that kind of thing had sounded like science fiction.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
That was the year the world learned that fake accounts could move real opinions.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
In the run-up to the US presidential election, a Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency ran thousands of fake American accounts across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
Investigators later found that its posts had reached as many as 126 million people on Facebook alone.
Vanessa RichardsonHOST
For years, that kind of thing had sounded like science fiction.
speaker_5NARRATOR
From YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to Reddit and Instagram and more.
speaker_5NARRATOR
Two reports commissioned by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee says Russia's Internet Research Agency, or IRA, tried to capitalize on divisions in U.S. politics.
speaker_5NARRATOR
It pushed more than 10 million tweets, more than 1,000 YouTube videos, and around 116,000 Instagram posts.
speaker_5NARRATOR
Altogether, that translated into a potential of reaching more than 140 million people.
Mark JacobsonHOST
And I think our audience might be thinking here, aha, sowing chaos, which is something that we've spoken about a lot.
Mark JacobsonHOST
And of course, this resembles the Russian Internet Research Agency's activity in 2016, when some operations were aimed not just to persuade voters, but to exploit racial divisions and to discourage political engagement.
Mark JacobsonHOST
Once again, what's new is old.
Mark JacobsonHOST
Yeah.
Charlie AngusGUEST
And doesn't that sound familiar? And what happened was massive Russian interference.
Charlie AngusGUEST
The Internet Research Agency run out of Petersburg moved in immediately.
Charlie AngusGUEST
Well, we have the Internet Research Agency being named as one of the offshore operators in Alberta.
Charlie AngusGUEST
We had at the same time in Brexit, the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Charlie AngusGUEST
So you had Steve Bannon, you had the whole manipulation of online disinformation of people creating false sites and false information.
Katie HarbathGUEST
Thus your ads must follow these rules and have these disclaimers.
Katie HarbathGUEST
I think people forget that part of the reason that we created the political ad transparency tools was to catch things like the Russian Internet Research Agency ads that were happening in 2016.
Katie HarbathGUEST
Most of those were issue based.
Katie HarbathGUEST
They were not talking about the candidates themselves.
Renée DiRestaGUEST
Our frameworks for dealing with them have not evolved.
Shane SmithHOST
You led an investigation into the Russian Internet Research Agency and gave public testimony.
Shane SmithHOST
Formerly, research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory.
Shane SmithHOST
I want to talk about that.
Armis SinkeHOST
Before he became the infamous leader of the Wagner Group, he was leading one of the biggest operations around troll farms.
Armis SinkeHOST
It was called the Internet Research Agency.
Armis SinkeHOST
And by some estimates, the Internet Research Agency reached around 130 million Americans on Facebook.
Fabio AlmadaHOST
No, yeah, this is an interesting way to put us in the context, but what comes to my mind is how at least these couple examples you're mentioning, both in 2016, both in Brexit and in the US, were 10 years ago.
Fabio AlmadaHOST
And you may think this was back then, Cambridge Analytica and all of that, but I'd say we have some examples in recent contemporary politics and history where these sorts of campaigns are still having strong impacts.
Allison GillHOST
The researchers also found that the campaign to bolster Stein gained intensity in the final days of the presidential campaign and largely targeted African American voters.
Allison GillHOST
These posts came from Putin's IRA, the Internet Research Agency.
Allison GillHOST
You might re- remember that one of the 38, you know, people and entities that Robert Mueller hit with indictments, Putin's Internet Research Agency-
Dana GoldbergHOST
Mm-hmm
Allison GillHOST
... headed up by Putin's caterer.
Malcolm NanceHOST
And this would be a big transparent one.
Malcolm NanceHOST
You would have to also create something along the lines of Russia's Internet Research Agency with a heavy, you know, Spanish... leaning to because you'd have to propagandize people oh the whole concept is mind-boggling stupid and that we're talking about it like real adults in the real world is just as nutty um as as all of this
Dexter IngramGUEST
but i've
Malcolm NanceHOST
i've had to talk
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