Russian troll factories

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Tiny Toy
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Russian troll factories

Post by Tiny Toy »

As a followup to the news in March that the Kremlin has been paying professional internet trolls in their hundreds in factories arranged for the purpose, one of these trolls, Lyudmila Savchuk, has spoken to the press about her job, which led to her being fired. In response she is now suing her employer and providing further intelligence on this aspect of Russian fourth-generation warfare. This comes at a time that Russia is trying to tighten up state secrecy.

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Tiny Toy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Tiny Toy »

An in-depth article of the kinds of activities that the Russian troll factories are performing, from an interview with Savchuk.

IrishT
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by IrishT »

I always thought the "you're a paid shill" was just an ad hominem. I didn't know it was an actual career choice. Where do I sign up? I'd rather shill for NATO, but if the Russians and Chinese are paying well enough, I might switch allegiances.

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

It is a pity that Western Gvmnts did away with their Kremlinology experts. The stuff that was exposed in 2014/ 15 was for everyone to read in the free Russian press in 2013 (how much of it remains today; don't ask me):
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/59889.html
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

WhiteWhale
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by WhiteWhale »

I would think many of us were already aware of this given the state of the militaryphotos forums during it's last couple of years!

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Pseudo
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Pseudo »

RUSSIA STRONK!!!!!!!

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Pseudo wrote:RUSSIA STRONK!!!!!!!
Especially today... you may want to check back what else was started, in the past, on Ukraine's National (Independence) Day.

Or you may want to log in on kyivpost.com... my security sw did not like it all, and the pages could not be reached.

Even on this forum there have noticeable been attempts at spin against the (quality of) people in our armed forces.
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

arfah
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Re: Russian troll factories

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Xmas Eve in St. Pete... happy hols, folks!
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Someone just (5 minutes ago) tried to post some competition to 55 Savushkina Street, St Petersburg, Russia's Troll Central... and it was taken down immediately
- very interesting and intriguing
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

fairly quiet around here?
"On Christmas Eve (6 January) Then again, on Christmas Morning, for the "заутренняя" Divine Liturgy of the Nativity. Since 1992 Christmas has become a national holiday in Russia, as part of the ten-day holiday at the start of every new year."
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

A new year, and even the MoD has woken up to the same reality as Oxford dons did late last year, when they suspended their co-operation on intelligence topics in a forum that was backed by a shady "publishing house". From Fallon's speech at St. Andrews, on weaponising information (2 Feb, 2017):

"Another feature of Russian activity is the elevation of what Churchill called the “terminological inexactitude”, to an art form.

There is a special Russian word for this….. Not “maskirovka”…the old deception perpetrated by its intelligence agencies…but “vranyo” where the listener knows the speaker is lying, and the speaker knows the listener knows he is lying, but keeps lying anyway."

A good inventory of acts perpetrated in that manner (elsewhere) then follows
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/cont ... -294708193
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

FuNsTeR
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by FuNsTeR »

lets be honest most countries including the UK have their troll factories/state hacking we would be kidding ourselves on if our governments weren't doing the same,

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

A sneak preview of what the US investigations will be coming up with, including the troll factories' role in a much more sweeping campaign https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 0d03911b0f

I wonder how our own investigation into "shady, Russian-backed publishing houses" is coming?
- I am sure it will set up a help line: Call 777 if in doubt
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Timmymagic »

FuNsTeR wrote:lets be honest most countries including the UK have their troll factories/state hacking we would be kidding ourselves on if our governments weren't doing the same,
If you think such activity could be kept secret in the UK you're mad. There would be a disgruntled employee on the news within the first week of operation..

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Disintermediating content from its source: that's how fake news get in and Google is glad to oblige
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/1 ... d_bad_bad/
... but it is for free
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Russian bots - unfortunately only tweets - are tracked here http://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/
and
if you go to the Top Topics list, you can click on any of them and get the time line
- out of nowhere McMaster and Susan Rice have come to the top with mentions
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

night shift manning looks like 50% of the full staff in day time hours:
blob:null/b45502d2-ab03-478d-bbc7-b5e496b93e24
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

night shift manning looks like 50% of the full staff in day time hours:
... ok, the screen windows (on the above linked site) don't seem to be addressable, so anyone interested will need to look it up
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

ArmChairCivvy wrote:Someone just (5 minutes ago) tried to post some competition to 55 Savushkina Street, St Petersburg, Russia's Troll Central... and it was taken down immediately
- very interesting and intriguing
Facebook starting to come clean (before called to testify): just on one occasion $100k adds from the above address (money circulated through a private company, but even they have to have an address :) ) which then were followed by a barrage of comments from 470 facebook accounts from the same address

... the plot thickens
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Twitter being asked for a similar analysis next
- by the US Senate Intelligence Committee... if anyone wonders
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

New EU website for countering Russian disinformation campaigns (broadly, trolls are just one "instrument"):
https://euvsdisinfo.eu/three-things-you ... d-sputnik/

A taster of the output:

"Are RT and Sputnik really media?

French President Emmanuel Macron says no: “Russia Today and Sputnik did not behave as media organisations and journalists, but as agencies of influence and propaganda, lying propaganda – no more, no less,” so he told journalists at his joint press conference with President Putin in Versailles on 29 May 2017.

Russian authorities themselves have called the media they control a “weapon” and have described their media role as “like we’re at war”.["]
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

Frenchie
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by Frenchie »

Yes, Putin was very embarrassed, it was fun :lol:

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

ArmChairCivvy wrote:
Facebook starting to come clean (before called to testify): just on one occasion $100k adds from the above address (money circulated through a private company, but even they have to have an address :) ) which then were followed by a barrage of comments from 470 facebook accounts from the same address

... the plot thickens
Facebook thought that suspending the illegit accounts would make "them" go away. Not so - Mueller has a warrant on them; means that there is reasonable evidence already before the detail that can garnered from the accounts to suspect their use has been instrumental in a crime. Business Insider (Nordic Edition) quotes from the other end of the "operation":
" how to use Facebook micro-targeting," Kushner said.

"We brought in Cambridge Analytica," he continued. "I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world, and I asked them how to scale this stuff . . . We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch."
- well done, on the surface of it
- but was there a little bit of help "from my friends"... as the song goes

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/muell ... ?r=US&IR=T
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Russian troll factories

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

ArmChairCivvy wrote:
Facebook starting to come clean (before called to testify): just on one occasion $100k adds from the above address (money circulated through a private company, but even they have to have an address :) ) which then were followed by a barrage of comments from 470 facebook accounts from the same address

... the plot thickens
Continuing from the above post in Sept of last year, Zuckerberg has woved to defend Facebook " from nation states", the Beep offers this analysis
"But after a tough 2017, Mr Zuckerberg is perhaps learning now that in the wake of the fake news scandal, and a platform brimming with tedious clickbait, not all engagement is good engagement.

[...]
Mr Zuckerberg may have come to the conclusion that having a news free-for-all is becoming more trouble than it's worth.

For news organisations and publications, this might spell bad news: a lot of traffic comes from Facebook. With less prominence, expect some viral sites to very quickly go out of business.

The new change of course will cost Facebook money. Mr Zuckerberg warned investors at the end of last year that combating fake news would hurt the firm's bottom line. The question now is: by how much?"
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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