Reddit Traces Leaked UK Trade Documents to Russian Influence Campaign
Reddit connects the recent leak of sensitive UK-US trade documents to a suspected Russian influence operation aimed at disrupting the upcoming UK general election.
Reddit links the leak and amplification of sensitive UK-US trade documents to a suspected Russian influence campaign targeting the upcoming UK general election. The social network investigates the incident after users post classified materials during a politically volatile period for the country, which heads to the polls next week amidst ongoing Brexit deadlock.
The platform traces the activity to an operation known as "Secondary Infektion," a campaign previously identified by Facebook and the Atlantic Council earlier this year. Reddit confirms that an account named gregoratior originally posts the leaked documents, while a second account named ostermaxnn reposts them and a coordinated pocket of accounts attempts to manipulate votes to amplify the content.
Despite the coordinated effort, the leak gains very little attention on Reddit. In response to the manipulation, Reddit bans one subreddit and 61 accounts for violating platform policies, noting that the perpetrators also resort to additional offline tactics like emailing campaign groups to draw attention to the leaked trade talks.