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“Americans have a right to know that much of what they view online is being disseminated by foreign agents in an effort to disrupt U.S. energy policies,” the report says.

Documents provided to the investigation by social media companies Twitter, Facebook and Instagram reveal that the agents used accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company based in St. Petersburg established by the Russian government to manipulate social and traditional media to advance Russian propaganda. The same agency also orchestrated Russian meddling in the U.S. election.

The surge of American energy into the global marketplace heightens the Kremlin’s desire to eliminate or mitigate (it) and to do so by influencing social media users, American voters, and public officials U.S. Committee on Science, Space and Technology

But Russia’s preoccupation with U.S. energy growth seems over the top: According to Twitter, more than four per cent of all IRA tweets were related to energy or environmental issues, compared with eight per cent of IRA tweets related to the U.S. election. Between 2015 and 2017, there were an estimated 4,334 IRA accounts across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Many of the Russian-linked accounts targeted “highly visible tension points” in America, including protests against pipelines and over climate change, says the report.

Among the Russian targets, two pipelines are important to Canada: Keystone XL to export Alberta oil to the U.S. Gulf, and Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5, part of the Lakehead system that moves Western Canadian oil to Eastern Canada through Great Lakes states.

The Russians also stirred opposition against the Dakota Access, Sabal Trail, Colonial and Bayou Bridge pipelines.