they were placing thousands of ads on facebook during the 2016 presidential election to stoke arguments and in some ways also to hurt hillary clinton and help donald trump. almost all of the prp band defound so far traces back to the internet research agency. investigators say it was financed by a company owned by this man, russian oligarch pregosian, wealthy businessman and part of putin s inner circle. they hired people that had a quota, they d work 12-hour shifts leading up to the election. there was an entire english language department specifically assigned to insert messages, social media posts, in the united states. they were required to watch house of cards to better understand american politics.