Russian network used BuzzFeed's Community site to spread false news stories

A network of social media accounts connected to a leak of US-UK trade documents has also spread false news stories online, a BBC investigation has discovered.

The accounts, which have been linked to Russia, used the community section of BuzzFeed and other open-access websites to publish and promote fake stories, highly partisan content and conspiracy theories.


BuzzFeed and the question-and-answer website Quora have removed some material after they were approached by the BBC.

The leak

The network's activity became an issue during the general election, after leaked US-UK trade documents were posted on discussion website Reddit.

Less than a week before the vote, Reddit announced that the accounts and the leak which was highlighted during the campaign by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn were linked to Russia.

Reddit did not give details of the evidence, nor did it definitively state that the Russian government directed or sponsored the network, which was first uncovered earlier in the year by researchers at Oxford and Cardiff universities, the Atlantic Council think tank and social media analysis firm Graphika.

In a post, Reddit said a group of 61 suspect accounts "provides us with important attribution for the recent posting of the leaked UK documents, as well as insights into how adversaries are adapting their tactics".

On Tuesday, Graphika published a follow-up report and said it had identified 44 stories posted by the Russian network between October 2016 and October 2019.

Most of the stories pushed by the network online appear to be false or highly partisan. The leaked trade talk documents, by contrast, appear to be genuine.