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How Professional Russian Trolls Operate
New submitter SecState writes: Hundreds of full-time, well-paid trolls operate thousands of fake accounts to fill social media sites and comments threads with pro-Kremlin propaganda. A St. Petersburg blogger spent two months working 12-hour shifts in a "troll factory," targeting forums of Russian municipal websites. In an interview, he describes how he worked in teams with two other trolls to create false "debates" about Russian and international politics, with pro-Putin views always scoring the winning point. Of course, with the U.S. government invoking "state secrets" to dismiss a defamation case against the supposedly independent advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran, Americans also need to be asking how far is too far when it comes to masked government propaganda.
The only places these trolls operate are unlikely to influence public opinion in one way or another. Their tactics are pretty simple. First, redirect the conversation by pointing out something bad the US has done in the past. Second, demand proof that the perceived negative factoid involving Russian activities is true. Finally, finish up by casting the opposition as something negative -- fascist Nazis are a favorite. They'll also tie themselves into knots trying to get in the last word, as if that means they "win" the discussion thread.
So we have evidence of a government doing it, but can we get a whistleblower from the lobbyists/PR/Corps? In just a recent example, the amount of comments on many websites' (particularly right-wing websites, but even on some more mainstream sites) articles about Net Neutrality and Title II far exceeded the normal levels, and most of the comments were negative and looked to me like they were scraped from other sites or autogenerated, plus there were large groups of trolls that were using every trick in the book to drown-out or malign anyone who posted pro-NN/T2 comments. Aside from the rampant astroturfing, there were fake 'grassroots' websites and social media accounts that spouted the same anti-NN talking points.
I'm far less worried about government propaganda right now when the corporations and lobby groups are undertaking orwellian large-scale psyops to sway public opinion.
Sure, and just think if he wasn't a far-right hugging nationalist idiot. He could've hit 500% by now because Russia has massive amounts of land, the largest natural resource reserves in the world, and a decent sized population that can, if it wants to, be quite innovative.
Instead it seems Russian pride is more important than actually contributing anything worthwhile to the world and so yep, you're stuck at 66% growth (and shrinking) from a low point. How pathetic.
This has been going on a long time in China, though there the troll workplaces are decentralized and the pay's a lot lower.
Sorry, I forgot there are ads on the Web; I use Lynx.
Look at any forum - especially news forums.
It's usually pretty obvious to see who is paid to troll.
Comments that are responded to by paid trolls are usually peppered with words and phrases such as "the Liberal government...", "what a conservative thing to do", "If the republicans were in power", "blame Obama", "Harpercrytes", "the far right", "leftist", etc. - which is very telling.
The same is true of any criticism of Israel regarding the illegal and brutal occupation of Palestine. Anyone who disagrees with the occupation is attacked by trolls and labelled an "anti-semite" and a "holocaust denier". Unless, of course, if they are Jewish then they are a called "self hater".
Sometimes it seems like the whole world has gone completely mad.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
So anybody who interrupts the anti-American, anti-West circlejerk is a shill?
Cold Fjord isn't interrupting any anit-American or anti-West discussion. He is disrupting discussions where someone mentions that we shouldn't hand Snowden and instead should hold people who work against the US population responsible.
That is Cold Fjord is anti-American and anti-West. He actively works against the things that makes the American and western values worth fighting for.
And no, anyone who takes that position isn't a shill, some of them are just retards.
The things that separates Cold Fjord from those people is that he only shows up in NSA related threads on Slashdot and he is so obvious that the only way he isn't a shill for NSA would be if he is a shill for some other nation that is trying really hard to make the US government look bad.
Either way, the result of his actions is that things get worse for the American public.
By reducing the value of the Ruble 66%, the Ruble value of the Russian economy increased 66%. 50% of which went to pay for his Sochii boondogle, harem of gymnasts, assassinations of journalists and advocates of justice, etc.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
I find that most people I talk to don't trust US media. They don't do anything about it, but they don't believe what they are told any longer. Apathy works for a while, but historically this can not last. Corruption and abuse will get to a point where there has to be some form of revolution (not always bloody) and then the cycle will start over again.
To be in line with TFA's point, sure the Russian's have paid shills and trolls. Their play books are the same as our own Government's. Whistle blowers have demonstrated that most large US companies have paid shills and trolls, the US Government pays shills and trolls, as does just every "Western" Government including the UK and Canada. Snowden's leaks give us a nice powerpoint view of the play book, no need for anecdote and hearsay trying to vilify "those other guys". Nobody likes a hypocrite..
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.