In the Mueller report, this man found a picture of his father used by the Russians: NPR

When a redacted version of the report of the special advocate Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election was made public and in Congress this week, the effects of the efforts of Russia's influence through social media have become clearer.

Information included in the report includes examples of materials used by Russian trolls. One image in particular remained true to Ronnie Hipshire, a former West Virginia coal miner.

On page 31 of the Mueller Report, Hipshire saw a photo of his father, Lee, another coal miner who died of a black lung disease, on a poster from the "Miners for Trump" rally in Pennsylvania. The Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency had used the photo without permission from the family for a poster in favor of Trump.

On the photo taken by photographer Earl Dotter, Lee is seen after what Hipshire called a "tough day" while he was coming out of a Logan County mine in the state of Virginia -Occidentale. face. It's a striking picture, but which Hipshire claims his father would not have wanted to support President Trump.

"What I did not like to see in the Mueller report was that they stole my father's picture and put it on a Trump campaign rally," Hipshire said. an interview with NPR & # 39; s All things Considered. "My dad was one of the most fervent Democrats you have ever seen in your life, and he would never have thought of putting his face on something like that – I could not see him."

Dotter is the one who told Hipshire that the photo was included in the report. Hipshire claims that neither he nor Dotter would have given permission for Lee's photo to be used as support for Trump.

But if the circumstances were different, meaning that Hipshire had given his permission and that the promotion concerned a political problem for which he defends, Hipshire said that he would approve the image used.

He does not want this to continue, but he is not sure what he can do to stop it.

"I do not know what you would do to stop them from doing it," says Hipshire. "If they can come in and steal things like this, how could they … how to block the internet? I mean, I do not know."

This story was produced and edited for radio by Eleanor Clark and Tinbete Ermyas.