However, this public sentiment has been amplified by apparently automated or semi-automated Twitter accounts known as “bots” and “trolls”, according to analysis of social media traffic by Reuters and a British-based security researcher. On Twitter though, the hashtag received little attention until the Olympic ban and garnered just under 1,700 tweets on December 5 before the IOC announcement. One of the accounts identified by Reuters as driving activity around #NoRussiaNoGames was the username ungestum, which lists its location as the Russian city of Orenburg. Reuters was unable to reach the person or people behind ungestum for comment on Twitter and no other contact information was available. AgitPolk is one of 2,752 accounts which has been identified by Twitter as tied to Russian operatives and suspended.

Source: The Express Tribune December 09, 2017 07:18 UTC