United States House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Majority Staff Report, Russian Attempts to Influence US Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media. March 2018
https://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/SST%20Staff%20Report%20-%20Russian%20Attempts%20to%20Influence%20U.S.%20Domestic%20Energy%20Markets%20by%20Exploiting%20Social%20Media%2003.01.18.pdf
The paper suggests that a group called IRA had significant activity in social media, lobbying against US oil and gas interests. The IRA refers to Internet Research Agency, supposedly a Russian company based in Saint Petersburg established by the Russian government for the purpose of deceptively using various social and traditional media platforms to advance Russian propaganda.
from the report:
Findings
Between 2015 and 2017, there were an estimated 9,097 Russian posts or tweets regarding U.S. energy policy or a current energy event on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Between 2015 and 2017, there were an estimated 4,334 IRA accounts across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
According to information provided by Twitter, more than four percent of all IRA tweets were related to energy or environmental issues, a significant portion of content when compared to the eight percent of IRA tweets that were related to the election in the U.S.
Russia exploited American social media as part of its concerted effort to disrupt U.S. energy markets and influence domestic energy policy.
The IRA targeted pipelines, fossil fuels, climate change, and other divisive issues to influence public policy in the U.S.