Inside the shady Russian agency tasked with trolling the world

They say you should never read the comments. Even Mitt Romney knows that. But for one shady organization in Russia, an entire business model depends on public consumption of — and faith in — internet comments sections, social media, and online profiles.

The New York Times Magazine published a shocking investigation Tuesday on Russia's Internet Research Agency, a company based in St. Petersburg that hires hundreds of young Russians to post and disseminate pro-Kremlin propaganda on the internet. The report begins by detailing a mysterious, threatening report of an ISIS chemical attack in Louisiana last September:

Employees of the Internet Research Agency apparently spend 12-hour days writing content for "every popular social network," writes Times reporter Adrian Chen. One of Chen's many sources was a former agency employee-turned-Benedict Arnold, Ludmila Savchuk, who compiled damning information while working for the company and leaked it all to a local newspaper before quitting. "They created such an atmosphere that people would understand they were doing something important and secretive and very highly paid," Savchuk told Chen, but they don't "clearly explain to you what your purpose there is."

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After Chen finished his reporting and left Russia, he was the target of his very own troll campaign, too. Read the whole crazy story at The New York Times Magazine.