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Former Russian Troll Wins Lawsuit Against Propaganda "Factory"

Posted by samzenpus on from the part-of-the-machine dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Lyudmila Savchuk, a former Russian internet "troll" has been awarded one rouble ($0.01) in damages after she sued her ex-employer claiming it was a propaganda "factory". A Russian court ordered the secretive agency to pay her symbolic damages. Savchuk claims that she and her co-workers at Internet Research were paid to flood websites with pro-Putin commentary. The BBC reports: "Ms Savchuk said she was happy with the result because she had succeeded in exposing the work of Russia's internet 'trolls'. Russian media quoted a spokesman for Internet Research denying the accusations. The Kremlin says it has no links to Internet Research's operations. Since leaving the agency, Ms Savchuk has been organizing a public movement against online trolling."

31 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Symbolically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    She gave her two cents and only got one in return.

  2. A Common Tactic by MagickalMyst · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Paying people to spread propaganda is not a new concept.

    This is common in politics and other industries; and has been for some time now.

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    1. Re:A Common Tactic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Israel kind of mastered this over the past 20 or so years

    2. Re:A Common Tactic by fey000 · · Score: 2

      Just look at any forum when Microsoft releases something new.

    3. Re:A Common Tactic by F.Ultra · · Score: 2

      Agreed, I have actually found employment ads about that kind of work in election years.

    4. Re:A Common Tactic by Rei · · Score: 2, Informative

      Israel's tack is usually different, they use more military censorship and pressure at home, while when trying to influence the US they use pressure groups like AIPAC and conservative Christian ally groups to pressure media organizations relentlessly on messaging that they don't like to encourage self-censorship.

      Many countries have at various times used the technique of planting false stories in the media with fake grassroots groups promoting the message - Russia is hardly breaking new ground here. However, the more you read about the operation, the depths they've taken it to and the breadth of their usage of it, they seem to have blown out all records in terms of scope and ambition for such a project. Internet Research Agency alone takes up 40 rooms of an office building.

      They work their employees on a rather slave-driver schedule, with 12-hour shifts. They not only have to post the troll stuff, but they have to spend even more of their time making apolitical posts to build up fake identities. However, once a mission gets launched, the cooperate large numbers of these built up fake identities into a single task, to overwhelm any voices trying to correct the record. For example, if they want to hurt the US oil industry by making people nervous about nearby plants, they'll make up a story about an explosion at an oil refinery. Then they'll have numerous fake news websites carry the story, and a whole fake corporate website covering it, many hundreds of these built-up twitter and other social media users forwarding it, claiming to have seen it, posting doctored photos of it, etc. Eventually the true story comes out, but many people never see the retraction, and even for those they do, they've put the scare into their minds about "what could happen". With the sheer number of employees they have, they can run several of these campaigns per day with fresh built-up identities. They cooperate closely with the FSB using hacks, blackmail, candid photography, etc wherever needed.

      Russia never managed to compete with the NSA's dominance on digital snooping (not for lack of trying). But they've put way more emphasis than the US on message control, which is essential both for maintaining domestic support for the current regime, as well as playing a key element in their hybrid warfare technique (that is, lay enough confusion about what's actually going on that nobody can react until after the mission objectives are already achieved). It's proven very effective in these regards. They've also tried to use it to assist in foreign policy - to divide Europe on sanctions, to support pro-Russian political parties, to discourage Europe from seeking energy independence, to discourage the US from pursuing natural gas exports, etc. In these regards their successes are more questionable.

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    5. Re:A Common Tactic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Of course Israel is doing this. Openly: http://thehigherlearning.com/2... http://www.usatoday.com/story/... Anybody who pretends it is only 'bad guys' like Russia and not every major world power and also multinational corporations, are either deluded or shills themselves.

    6. Re:A Common Tactic by catchblue22 · · Score: 1

      I believe that it is common to have paid propaganda posters on newspapers and discussion boards such as Slashdot, especially on issues such as global warming. Some of my reasons for believing this are:

      1) It is effective. It discourages the believers in particular causes, making them feel alone. It makes readers feel that the beliefs of the elite funders of the paid poster are actually the views of the common people.

      2) It is a cost-effective way of reaching the eyeballs of particular and influential groups of readers. Having one poster make many posts under different accounts from a single computer is not difficult. Posting through several IP addresses is not difficult.

      If you think that this only happens in Russia and not in our own corporate state, you are quite naive.

      --
      This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
    7. Re:A Common Tactic by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      There was a fantiatic piece in the Guardian a few months ago detailing exactly this kind of thing. http://www.theguardian.com/new...

  3. Wow! by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    I'm impressed she's still alive. IMO, trolling causes me to question the message giver, and get my content from another web site.

    1. Re:Wow! by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

      There was a truly excellent article on this "Internet Research Agency" group a while back. The ending is just brilliant.

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    2. Re:Wow! by supernova00 · · Score: 1

      Very long but great article!

    3. Re:Wow! by Faust6 · · Score: 1

      Agreed, that was an excellent article.

    4. Re:Wow! by Rei · · Score: 2

      Lol, your reference is a satire site that starts off "Adrian Chen (aka Gaydrian Chen)" and that he's "a half-breed dwarf fresh out of community college" using "jew-gold rearing techniques"?

      For those who want actual background... Basically, there was for a period a Reddit war against him because he exposed one of their moderators who ran a section peddling racy images of young girls, among many other kinds of nastiness.

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    5. Re:Wow! by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      The point isn't for you to question one news source, but for you to question all of them. They are so obvious and transparent in their lies, it's not propaganda, it's something even worse it's using media as a weapon to attack.

    6. Re:Wow! by drewlake2000 · · Score: 1

      spotted! Note, the response "lol you're using x as a source" it is definitely from IRA, I've noticed that exact same on other pages that have discussed exactly the same thing, it's been used against me "lol your using vice as a source"... For example: here Rei makes a nice little post. The anonymous IRA goon does the standard format "lol, your using x" post to try and knock it down (not noting that it was the new york times, not the the national enquirer). Rei responds in kind, detailing why his post was correct. Another IRA goon, or the same one by mistake uses the same style of takedown as before, making the classic rookie mistake of highlighting their tactics. Notice also the outdated homophobic slur "gaydrian chen", so obviously russian it's painful (ok the poster may be a 6 year old child, but few adult westerners would do that) , might as well have a bear on a red background.

  4. Seems odd by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    You would think that anyone paid to spread propaganda would know that they are doing it and be a willing participant.

    1. Re:Seems odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A liar may feel guilt and speak the truth, a True Believer will feel guilt for any time not spent spreading "truth."

  5. Clearly a lying provocateur! by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Funny
    As everyone knows,

    Comrade Putin is brave, honorable, and handsome.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Clearly a lying provocateur! by joeblog · · Score: 1

      Anyone else find it suspicious how all posts like the above have been voted down?

      --
      If it works, it's obsolete
  6. This belongs here... by wbr1 · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  7. Not trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When did the definition of "trolling" change? Trolling means that you post something solely to bait a response from someone. For example posting "There is no God" in a forum full of Catholics or "Obama is awesome" in a KKK forum. What they are talking about here is spreading propaganda.

  8. I love this country by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Thank god we don't have any propaganda factories here in the U S of A.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:I love this country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes, the USA is not quite the same as Russia.

      In Russia, media is state owned. In the USA, the media and the state are owned by the same people. It is actually worse, but sounds better :)

  9. Russian trolls? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do Russian trolls have another, slightly smaller Russian troll inside them?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. Re:An accident waiting to happen by Coren22 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Someone will shoot her while she is out walking with her boyfriend in the snow. It will be ruled a horrible crime, and the parties involved will be moved somewhere less public where they will be handed envelopes filled with money.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  11. Re:An accident waiting to happen by Coren22 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Troll for pointing out what happened to another critic of Putin?

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2...
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
    http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/27/...

    Or are we to believe that Putin's ordering of a criminal investigation will really find the people who did it who were widely believed to be acting on Putin's orders?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  12. Re:An accident waiting to happen by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    This here is one of the Russian trolls. It is all a western conspiracy to devalue Russian principles!

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  13. It's funny how that works by stevenm86 · · Score: 1

    Ironically, recent US actions have done far more for pro-Putin suppor sentiment than any of his propaganda efforts.

  14. "Moral damages"? by jfengel · · Score: 2

    TFS doesn't say exactly what she was suing over. TFA says she "sued the secretive company for alleged moral damages, non-payment of wages and for failing to give workers proper contracts".

    So, I'm puzzled. If she was due wages, she should have gotten more than one rouble. I'm not sure of the compensation for failing to give proper contracts; it sounds like it's something akin to violating an oral contract.

    What are moral damages? A quick Google doesn't turn up much; it sounds like a legal concept not used in the US. Can anybody enlighten me?

  15. Re:An accident waiting to happen by mirix · · Score: 2

    But KPRF and LDPR are not pro-western yes men, so they don't count!

    I guess you need to go down to parties with zero popular support to find one that aligns with US dreams for russia.

    It's funny they never report that batshit-insane Zhironovsky*, has 12 times the support, and communists have 20x. That's how unelectable these people the US roots for are.

    *some selected examples:
    - expressed a desire to reunite countries of the ex-Soviet "near abroad" with Russia to within the Russia's borders of 1900 (including Finland and Poland).
    - advocated forcibly retaking Alaska from the United States (which would then become "a great place to put the Ukrainians")
    - Zhirinovsky, who encourages separatism within the Russian minority in the Baltic countries,[17] endorsed the forcible re-occupation of these countries and said nuclear waste should be dumped there.[31][32]
    - advocated hitting some Chechen villages with tactical nuclear weapons.

    There's simply too much great comedy this guy comes up with.

    --
    Sent from my PDP-11