Page:Internet research agency indictment.pdf/17

 43. By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their ﬁctitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 US. presidential election. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.

a. On or about February 10, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators internally circulated an outline of themes for future content to be posted to ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on “politics in the USA” and to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump—we support them).”

b. On or about September 14, 2016. in an internal review of an ORGANIZATION- created and controlled Facebook group called “Secured Borders,” the account specialist was criticized for having a “low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton” and was told “it is imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton” in future posts.

44. Certain ORGANIZATION-produced materials about the 20l6 US. presidential election used election-related hashtags, including: “#‘I'rump2016,” “#TrumpTrain,” “#MAGA,” “#IWontProtectI-lillary,” and “#Hillary4Prison.” Defendants and their co-conspirators also established additional online social media accounts dedicated to the 20l6 US. presidential election, including the Twitter account “March for Trump” and Facebook accounts “Clinton FRAUDation” and “Trumpsters United.”

45. Defendants and their co-eonspirators also used false U.S. personas to communicate with unwitting members, volunteers, and supporters of the Trump Campaign involved in local

community outreach, as well as grassroots groups that supported then—candidate Trump. These

17