Trolls fueled division among Americans

Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election via social media was more widespread than previously thought and involved attempts to inflame divisions among American citizens based on race and ideology, according to reports from private think tanks released Monday by senators from both parties.

The Russian government's Internet research agency, based in St. Petersburg, tried to manipulate US politics, two reports say. One was done by the agency for analyzing social networks, New Knowledge, and the other by a team from the University of Oxford in cooperation with the analytical company Graphika.

The reports largely confirm earlier allegations by U.S. intelligence, but provide much more detail about Russian activities that began years ago and continue today, senior congressional officials said.

For example, one of the Russian bot organizations tried to incite "secessionist movements" in California and Texas, the New Knowledge report said.

"These newly released data show how aggressively Russia has tried to divide Americans on the basis of race, religion and ideology," Richard Burr, chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

The aforementioned Russian agency worked to undermine trust in American democratic institutions, and its activists are not stopping even today.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, said that "these reports show the level to which Russia has exploited the cracks in our society to divide Americans in an attempt to undermine and manipulate our democracy."

"These attacks... were much more comprehensive, calculated and widespread than previously thought," he said.

According to a report compiled by Oxford in collaboration with Grafika, the Russians spread "sensational news, conspiracy theories and other forms of fake political news and disinformation to voters across the political spectrum."

The group alleges that Russian trolls urged African-Americans to boycott the election or not follow the sleeper voting procedure, while encouraging right-wing voters to be more confrontational. Since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, this report says Russian trolls have begun to persuade Mexican-Americans and other South American voters to distrust US institutions. The New Knowledge report claimed that the Russians conducted "full-scale operations against Hillary Clinton," such as efforts to get Muslims to organize demonstrations in support of Clinton.

Reports say that the Russian hackers targeted Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and the late John McCain, as well as former FBI chief James Comey, special counsel Robert Mueller, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The Kremlin denies all accusations of meddling in the US election. Trump has also repeatedly denied that his campaign colluded with Russia.