Russian Agent Paid US Group To Protest Facebook's Parent Meta
Federal investigators have charged a suspected Russian government agent for trying to sow discord in the US, including paying a black-led political group to protest Facebook’s parent Meta.
On Friday, the Justice Department unsealed(Opens in a new window) an indictment against Moscow resident Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov that claims he orchestrated “a years-long foreign malign influence campaign” in the US.
The foreign influence campaign began back in 2014 and lasted until this past March. Ionov allegedly conspired with at least three other Russian government officials to carry out the influence campaign, which involved spreading propaganda and trying to interfere in US elections.
In addition, Ionov’s most recent activities have been linked to orchestrating a March protest at Meta’s headquarters near San Francisco. According to the indictment(Opens in a new window), back in March Ionov sent a message to a co-conspirator about a poster design to protest a US social media company’s decision to restrict content that supported Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine.
On March 19th, the Russian then spent $2,883 to buy plane tickets for the co-conspirator and three members of a US political group from Atlanta, Georgia to travel to San Francisco to hold the protest.
The indictment doesn’t name the social media company or the political group. But the details and the timing matches with a March 23rd protest at Meta’s headquarters that involved a radical group called Black Hammer, which is based in Atlanta. Video(Opens in a new window) of the demonstration shows four supporters of the group standing next to Meta’s corporate logo, and holding up a Russian flag.
According to the indictment, Ionov received a video of the protest at
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