Popular alt-right tweeter Jenna Abrams was the product of a Russian-funded “troll farm”, it has emerged after an investigation by the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Daily Beast reports the controversial blogger, who believed in a return to segregation and claimed America’s problems stemmed from a culture of political correctness gone mad, did not actually exist.
She had 70,000 followers and her tweets regularly went viral and were featured in mainstream media articles.
Initially her tweets were about Kim Kardashian and feminism, but they became ever more political in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election.
The fake account was used deliberately to create division and disunity with posts on controversial issues like the Confederate flag debate, Black Lives Matter and racial segregation.
It was designed to set Americans against each other and embolden the alt-right on the social network.
One of her more controversial tweets said that the American Civil War was not about slavery, but was instead about money.
She wrote: “To those people, who hate the Confederate flag. Did you know that the flag and the war wasn’t about slavery, it was all about money.”
The revelation that Abrams was in fact not areal shows the extent of some Russian manipulation of elections – as the troll went to significant lengths to appear to be a real person on the platform.
Twitter and Google have suspended accounts associated with Abrams.
It comes as Facebook disclosed that up to 126 million Americans saw Russia-linked political posts over a two-year period before the election last year.
While the FBI has brought its first charges in the Russian election interference investigation, accusing former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort of conspiracy against the US and money laundering, among other charges.