Russian trolls used Twitter to spread misinformation about vaccinations, a study suggests.

The rogue accounts started online debates then suggested vaccines were unsafe, researchers found.

Meanwhile, bots and hacked accounts, known as cyborgs, were also used to spread the false claims.

In some cases, the accounts were shown to belong to the same Russian trolls suspected of interfering in the US election.

Study co-author Dr. David Broniatowski said: “Our findings suggest that a significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas.”

Broniatowski research was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Researchers looked at thousands of tweets sent between July 2014 and September 2017.

They found the accounts, dubbed content polluters, shared anti-vaccination messages 75 percent more than average Twitter users.

More than 250 tweets linked to an agency backed by Vladimir Putin’s Russian government used more sophisticated tactics.

The accounts posted antagonistic messages both for and against vaccination in what researchers said was an attempt to stir up divisions in US society.