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An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, the target, or a group they belong to or are perceived to belong to.
They may target any group, such as a peaceful protest or demonstration, a union, a political party or a company.
United States
In the United States, the FBI's COINTELPRO program included agents posing as political activists to disrupt activities of political groups.[1]