A Russian 'troll' who claims to have worked for the Internet Research Agency's English Language Department said he was told to watch House of Cards (pictured) to research US politics

Russian operatives tasked with interfering in the 2016 presidential election watched 'House of Cards' to learn how to influence the American people 'against their own government,' a former employee has said.

The operative, identified as 'Maksim', worked at a 'troll factory' in St Petersburg formerly known as the Internet Research Agency. He described his work in the English Language Department in an interview with the independent Russian TV station Rain, Yahoo News reports.

He said that watching the Netflix series was part of a scheme to learn about how American politics works.

The Emmy award-winning television show starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright chronicles the power struggles of South Carolina congressman Frank Underwood, who rises to become president in part through his ruthless tactics.

Maksim says he worked for the Internet Research Agency in 2015. He said he would post 'comments' on articles from the New York Times and Washington Post about topics ranging from bashing Hillary Clinton to gun control to gay rights.

House of Cards is a Netflix series detailing the exploits of Frank Underwood (portrayed by Kevin Spacey, center) and his wife, Claire Underwood (portrayed by Robin Wright, right)

'The main message is: Are not you, my American brothers, tired of the Clintons?' he says in the interview. The goal, in all comments, was 'to cause unrest, cause discontent', he said.

The trolls would use virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask the fact that they were posting from Russia, according to Maksim.

They would be evaluated, he says, on how many 'likes' their comments received.

Discussing how trolls would comment on stories about homosexuality, he said: 'You had to write that sodomy is a sin. That could always get you a couple of dozen "likes."'

Maksim said that one topic that was off-limits for the trolls was Russia itself, along with President Vladimir Putin.

'[Americans], in fact, do not care about Russia and Putin,' he said.

The Internet Research Agency has used various methods of trying to influence the 2016 US Presidential Election via different online platforms. Pictured is Rhussian President Vladimir Putin

Hillary Clinton lost the election but won the popular vote against Donald Trump

The interview comes as technology giants come under heightened scrutiny for their firms' unwitting proliferation of Kremlin-linked propaganda. These cases involved in Internet Research Agency and other 'troll factories'.

Google discovered this past week that Russian-linked operatives used its site to promote incendiary messages, in an effort to dupe Americans into reading them and then passing the information on to their friends and colleagues.

Another Silicon Valley giant, Facebook, has uncovered postings linked to Russian agents that one expert concluded were likely shared hundreds of millions of times.

The Washington Post had reported that the Google ads are linked to a different Russian troll farm than the one linked to Facebook – an indication that the breadth of the Russia campaign is greater than previously known.

Investigators still must sort through the conflicting streams of information about the ads – some of which appear designed to inflame tensions along racial lines. Others fell on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

One even explicitly went after Donald Trump, who U.S. intelligence has concluded that Russia favored.

Both Twitter and Facebook recently detected and disclosed that suspected Russian operatives, working for the Internet Research Agency, used their platforms to purchase ads and post content that was politically divisive in a bid to influence Americans before and after the election.

Facebook found that ads from the Internet Research Agency were seen by an estimated 10million people before and after the election

The Internet Research Agency employs hundreds of so-called 'trolls' who post pro-Kremlin content, much of it fake or discredited, under the guise of phony social media accounts that posed as American or European, according to lawmakers and researchers.

Facebook announced last month it had unearthed $100,000 in spending by the Internet Research Agency and, under pressure from lawmakers, has pledged to be more transparent about how its ads are purchased and targeted.

The tech giant has further stated that the Internet Research Agency ads run on its platform were seen by an estimated 10million people before and after the 2016 election.

The company turned 3,000 ads over to three congressional committees earlier this month as part of their investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 election.

The ads would target voters who marketers believed were impressionable, the Washington Post had reported.

Similar to tactics used by American companies, the Russian influencers would use a Facebook tool called Custom Audiences to send more content about social and political issues to users who had clicked on the ads.

Eventually, targeted users would be directed to non-social media websites. Tracking data on the users was mined by the Russian operatives.

Also earlier this month, Twitter announced it had shut down 201 accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency.