A giant Russian social media network controlled by Putin allies and known to cooperate with the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service) reached out to the Trump campaign on several occasions, encouraging them to set up a page on the website.
The executive at Vkontakte, or VK, Russia’s equivalent to Facebook, emailed Donald Trump Jr. and social media director Dan Scavino in January and again in November of last year, offering to help promote Trump’s campaign to its nearly 100 million users, according to people familiar with the messages.
“It will be the top news in Russia,” Konstantin Sidorkov, who serves as VK’s director of partnership marketing, wrote on Nov. 5, 2016.
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During the time that VK was contacting the Trump operation, Russia was engaged in an influence campaign through social media to bolster Trump, U.S. intelligence officials have said.
This past July, Sidorkov posted a photo of himself on Instagram with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Jonathan Albright, research director at Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, calls VK an "excellent tool to connect with Russian expats and Russian-speaking audiences" but says it has a dark side:
While mainly used by Russian-speaking users, the site has also become known in Europe — and increasingly in the United States — as a platform embraced by white-nationalist groups, according to groups that track their activity.
Far-right politicians in Germany and other countries have VK profiles, Albright said. The website also directed substantial amounts of traffic to Breitbart News and Infowars, a popular conservative conspiracy site, during the 2016 campaign, he said.
CNN was first to report that British publicist Rob Goldstone mentioned setting up a Trump VK page in an email to White House social media director Dan Scavino. Goldstone reportedly wrote "Don and Paul' were on board with the idea," referencing Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort.
WaPo:
“Please feel free to send me whatever you have,” Scavino wrote to Goldstone on Jan. 19. “Thank you so much for looking out for Mr. Trump and his presidential campaign.”
A few days later, Sidorkov emailed Scavino, Trump Jr. and Donald Trump’s longtime assistant Rhona Graff.
“Nice to meet you and your team,” Sidorkov wrote, attaching information about VK and its social media reach.
Read more: Russian social media executive sought to help Trump campaign in 2016, emails show (WaPo)