On December 21, the British parliament is to debate Russian interference in the United Kingdom’s democratic processes. Ahead of the debate, it was suggested that Russian internet trolls — anonymous, abusive accounts — may be targeting Members of Parliament (MPs) who criticize Russia and its propaganda.

Tweet from Lucy Fisher of the Times, quoting Chris Bryant MP, Labour chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Russia. (Source: Twitter / @LOS_Fisher)

@DFRLab looked into several potential cases and found a group of trolls, which not only appear pro-Kremlin, but share many of the characteristics of earlier accounts run from the so-called “troll factory”, a building in St. Petersburg in which Russians are employed to maintain fake social-media accounts and to post pro-Russian or anti-Western propaganda.

Troll factory accounts played a prominent role in the 2016 United States elections, as the most effective accounts built up tens of thousands of followers and interacting with top officials from President Donald Trump’s campaign.

The pro-Kremlin accounts we found account for only a small proportion of the abusive messages sent to MPs, and to journalists who reported on them; the great majority appear to come from genuine, and genuinely disgruntled, British voters. However, these pro-Kremlin, and potentially troll-factory, accounts directly targeted British MPs. Their behavior, therefore, constitutes a targeted attempt to influence British democratic debate as it happened.

Angry Russians

The most obvious pro-Kremlin posts came from apparently Russian-language accounts. For example, on November 10, Conservative MP Damian Collins tweeted an article by Wired magazine, setting out the first evidence of Russian interference in the UK’s Brexit debate.

The post from Damian Collins, MP, which triggered the outburst. (Source: Twitter / Damian Collins)

One of the replies came from a Russian-language user who posted in capitals, and obscenity.

“BE AFRAID OF RUSSIA!!! IF YOU ANNOY (IT), YOUR ISLAND WILL DISAPPEAR INTO NOTHINGNESS AT A SINGLE STROKE!!! THE ENGLISH ALWAYS WERE THE MOST STUPID PEOPLE AND THAT’S HOW THEY’LL REMAIN IN HISTORY!! AND YOU PERSONALLY SUCK PUTIN’S ****!” Archived on December 20, 2017. (Source: Twitter / @khaag65)

This account is clearly a Russian patriotic troll. Its profile page features a background of the Russian leadership in combat uniform on an idealized battlefield; its aggression towards Collins marks it out as a troll.