The feds are not only investigating Russian meddling in the US election and possible links to President Trump — they are looking into some right-wing and conspiratorial websites that boosted the new president and were sharply critical of Hillary Clinton.
In particular, the FBI is trying to determine whether bots that promoted articles on websites like Breitbart News and InfoWars were in some way related to Russia’s effort to interfere in the US election, McClatchy reported.
The FBI’s Counterintelligence Division is leading the probe.
The social media bots automatically retweeted and otherwise disseminated posts from the sites throughout the election. It is believed the bots were being run out of Russia.
“This may be one of the most highly impactful information operations in the history of intelligence,” a former intelligence official told McClatchy.
But not all bots were pro-Trump during the election.
The Verge reported last October that Clinton’s campaign created one to disseminate Trump quotes that it believed would hurt his candidacy.
News of this investigation comes a day after FBI Director James Comey officially confirmed that he’s investigating the Trump campaign’s possible connections to the Russian meddling in the US election.