Four hundred and nineteen Twitter accounts that posted on Brexit were localized to Russia’s Internet Research Agency… About a third of the discussion of Brexit on Twitter was generated by bots—and more than 90% of the bots tweeting political material were not located in the United Kingdom. Britons…had no idea at the time…that the bots were part of a Russian foreign policy to weaken their country. The margin of the vote was 52% for leaving and 48% for staying. … Brexit was a triumph for Russian foreign policy, and a sign that a cyber campaign directed from Moscow could change reality.
—Timothy Snyder, The Road To Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
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