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Tommy_Carcetti

(43,173 posts) Mon Jun 2, 2014, 02:36 PM Jun 2014

Documents Show How Russia’s Troll Army Hit America

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america

Documents Show How Russia’s Troll Army Hit America

The adventures of Russian agents like The Ghost of Marius the Giraffe, Gay Turtle, and Ass — exposed for the first time.
posted on June 2, 2014, at 1:48 p.m.

Max Seddon
BuzzFeed Staff

Russia’s campaign to shape international opinion around its invasion of Ukraine has extended to recruiting and training a new cadre of online trolls that have been deployed to spread the Kremlin’s message on the comments section of top American websites.

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The bizarre hive of social media activity appears to be part of a two-pronged Kremlin campaign to claim control over the internet, launching a million-dollar army of trolls to mold American public opinion as it cracks down on internet freedom at home.

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The documents show instructions provided to the commenters that detail the workload expected of them. On an average working day, the Russians are to post on news articles 50 times. Each blogger is to maintain six Facebook accounts publishing at least three posts a day and discussing the news in groups at least twice a day. By the end of the first month, they are expected to have won 500 subscribers and get at least five posts on each item a day. On Twitter, the bloggers are expected to manage 10 accounts with up to 2,000 followers and tweet 50 times a day.

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Russia’s “troll army” is just one part of a massive propaganda campaign the Kremlin has unleashed since the Ukrainian crisis exploded in February. Russian state TV endlessly asserts that Kiev’s interim government is under the thumb of “fascists” and “neo-Nazis” intent on oppressing Russian-speaking Ukrainians and exerts a mesmerizing hold on many in the country’s southeast, where the channels are popular. Ukraine has responded by banning all Russian state channels, barring entry to most Russian journalists, and treats some of the more obviously pro-rebel Russian reporters as enemy combatants.

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Much more at link. A fascinating piece.

13 replies

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Documents Show How Russia’s Troll Army Hit America (Original Post) Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 OP

there's very little doubt they were here in force. geek tragedy Jun 2014 #1

I definitely came across one here. Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #5

+1 Tarheel_Dem Jun 2014 #12

almost everyone who tries to defend rt.com automatically goes on my iggy list geek tragedy Jun 2014 #13

"A multi-million army of trolls..."? Is that like a new commie cyber-invasion? Fred Sanders Jun 2014 #2

There is propaganda flying around from all sides. Comrade Grumpy Jun 2014 #3

Interesting article but a MAJOR copyright infringement. Luminous Animal Jun 2014 #4

Fixed. nt Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #7

Well, well, well Hekate Jun 2014 #6

Judging by some of the posts here at DU... joeybee12 Jun 2014 #8

That can't be...Everyone knows only the NSA pulls such underhanded stunts Blue_Tires Jun 2014 #9

GET OUT! No way! TwilightGardener Jun 2014 #10

And they have definitely been earning their keep. In fact, they've been working overtime. Tarheel_Dem Jun 2014 #11

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)

1. there's very little doubt they were here in force.

Reply to Tommy_Carcetti (Original post)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 02:43 PM

Jun 2014

and probably still are.

lots of 'name removed' trolls etc pushing the Kremlin's talking points.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,173 posts)

5. I definitely came across one here.

Reply to geek tragedy (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 02:59 PM

Jun 2014

Back when someone posted a piece about RT village idiot/British Sex Tourist Graham Phillips, I wrote a reply pointing out the numerous flaws and deficiencies in Phillip's reporting. A brand new 1 post poster then appeared to defend Phillip's honor in a somewhat laughable fashion, using language that very clearly looked to have been run through Google Translate.

Later, someone here posted to another RT article about Phillips. And in the comment section, there was someone posting with almost exactly the same defense of Phillips honor, word-for-word. I have no doubt that I was seeing this tactic at work.

She(?)'s still active here, but her entire 3 post DU history remains on the Graham Phillips thread.

Of course, we also have a few useful idiots here who haven't received a penny from the Kremlin but are all to happy to cut and paste things found on Russian state owned media. But that's a whole different story.