BALTIMORE _ As part of its campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, Russian-backed entities attempted to suppress voter turnout in minority communities _ including through a social media account that was active in Baltimore _ federal prosecutors said Friday.
In a wide-ranging indictment of 13 Russians that offered new insight into how Russian troll farms like the Internet Research Agency operated, special counsel Robert Mueller's office wrote that part of the effort involved voter suppression in traditionally Democratic areas.
"In or around the latter half of 2016, defendants ... began to encourage U.S. minority groups not to vote in the 2016 presidential election or to vote for a third-party U.S. presidential candidate," the indictment read.
The indictment alleges the defendants controlled several social media accounts, including one called "Blacktivist." A Twitter account with that same name had attempted to promote a rally to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Freddie Gray last year, The Baltimore Sun has reported.
Prosecutors do not mention any involvement by the Russian entities specifically in Maryland in their 37-page indictment. But, prosecutors wrote, Russian entities did use a Blacktivist account on Instagram to promote Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who was more likely to pull votes from Democratic nominees than Republican ones.
Days before the election, "defendants and their co-conspirators purchased an advertisement to promote a post on the organization-controlled Instagram account "Blacktivist" that read in part: 'Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it's not a wasted vote.'"
The early Russian effort was particularly active in Maryland, despite the fact that the heavily Democratic state was never considered in play in the presidential election. Lawmakers have said that Russian entities heavily targeted the state for social media advertising, particularly in the wake of the 2015 riots.
