The Russian government has hit out at two reports released by the U.S. Senate intelligence committee Monday that laid out Moscow’s extensive efforts to help Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign. The reports suggested the Kremlin’s attempts to influence the election through social media were more far-reaching than originally thought, particularly on Instagram, with troll farms working to discourage black voters and “blur the lines between reality and fiction.” Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, rejected the claims Tuesday, saying the reports were attempting to shift blame for social tensions in the U.S. to Russia. He said in Tuesday’s call with reporters that “the Russian government hasn’t had anything to do with any kind of interference.” One report, prepared by researchers from New Knowledge, Columbia University, and Canfield Research, noted that Instagram drove 187 million interactions with content from Russian troll farm the Internet Research Agency.
