Figure of the Week: 45,000

New revelations show that fake Russian Twitter accounts published at least 45,000 messages about Brexit ahead of the referendum, most of them calling on British voters to reject the European Union.

Data analysts from Swansea University and the University of California, Berkeley, tracked down more than 156,000 fake Twitter accounts based in Russia.

According to their study, these accounts published a huge number of tweets devoted to the Brexit vote, including 45,000 messages in the 48 hours preceding the vote.

The fake accounts also included numerous tweets aimed at fanning anti-Muslim sentiment in the United Kingdom.