The daily grind was simple: create fake accounts on social media and use them to post comments online as the bosses instructed.

…“We were not even allowed to say anything funny about Putin,” Bespalov says. “We would either talk positively about him or not at all.”

Apart from a few ideological employees who referred to themselves as “Putin’s trolls,” the staff at the factory was mostly indifferent to politics and motivated only by money, says Bespalov. They were paid to meet specific quotas for online comments, blogs and other posts on social media. They were given strict instructions on what issues to write about and how to spin the news of the day.

How Russia Spreads Fake News, Explained by a Former Troll | Time

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Russian Media Aims To Help Bernie Sanders Campaign Get The Democratic Nomination : NPR

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Grow an audience in part through heartwarming, inspiring messages, and use that following to spread messages promoting division, distrust, and doubt.

…The quality of Russia’s work has been honed over several years and millions of social media posts. They have appeared on Instagram, Stitcher, Reddit, Google+, Tumblr, Medium, Vine, Meetup, and even Pokémon Go, demonstrating not only a nihilistic creativity, but also a ruthless efficiency in volume of production. 

…Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry.  …Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy.

Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously.

…Professional trolls are good at their job. They have studied us. They understand how to harness our biases (and hashtags) for their own purposes. They know what pressure points to push and how best to drive us to distrust our neighbors. The professionals know you catch more flies with honey. They don’t go to social media looking for a fight; they go looking for new best friends. And they have found them.

Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. 

…As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly.

…“My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. ‘What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?’ 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home.”

This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet.

…Melanie’s audience was made up of educated, urban, left-wing Americans harboring a touch of self-righteousness. She wasn’t selling her audience a candidate or a position — she was selling an emotion. Melanie was selling disgust. The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.

…Effective disinformation is embedded in an account you agree with. The professionals don’t push you away, they pull you toward them. While tweeting uplifting messages, …[they also] distributed messages consistent with past Russian disinformation. Importantly, they highlighted issues of race and gender inequality.  …These tweets point to valid issues of concern …[but] they are framed [in a way which serves] Russia’s interests in undermining Americans’ trust in our institutions.

…These accounts also harness the goodwill they’ve built by engaging in these communities for specific political ends. …They attacked moderate politicians as a method of bolstering more polarizing candidates. 

…They attack issues from both sides, attempting to drive mainstream viewpoints in polar and extreme directions.

…Russia strategically employed social media to build support on the right for Trump and lower voter turnout on the left for Clinton.

…Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy. [Their aim is to] encourage us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. 

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It – Rolling Stone

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Internet Research Agency trolls infiltrated and exerted influence in online communities with both left- and right-leaning political views. That helped them muddy the waters on both sides, stirring discord across the political spectrum.

…When declaring their locations, they listed a country, but not any particular city in that country. That’s unusual: Most Twitter users tend to be more specific, listing a state or town.

…They frequently reset their online personas by changing account information like their name and description and by mass-deleting past tweets. In this way, the same account – still retaining its followers – could be repurposed to advocate a different position or target a different demographic of users.

…These troll accounts also often tweeted links to posts from Russian government-sponsored organizations purporting to be news.

…In early 2018, Reddit announced that Russian trolls had likely operated on its site as well. 

…Russian trolls could take advantage of that tendency to infiltrate these smaller sites, like Gab or Minds, influencing real people who also use those systems – and getting them to spread propaganda and disinformation more widely.

It’s clear to us that technological solutions on their own cannot solve the problem of government-sponsored trolling online. 

Propaganda-spewing Russian trolls act differently online from regular people

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The Internet Research Agency, a well-researched Russian company in St. Petersburg whose function is to spread pro-Russian propaganda and sow political discord in nations perceived as hostile to Russia.

The secretive firm is bankrolled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, CNN reported, a Russian oligarch who is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

…”Our task was to set Americans against their own government: to provoke unrest and discontent, and to lower Obama’s support ratings.”

…The Russian desk, which was primarily made up of bots and trolls, used fake social-media accounts to flood the internet with pro-Trump agitprop and made-up news throughout the US presidential campaign, especially in the days leading up to the November election.

…The foreign desk …[was] geared toward understanding the “nuances” of American politics to “rock the boat” on divisive issues like gun control and LGBT rights.

…An entire department, the “Department of Provocations,” was dedicated to that goal: Its primary objective was to disseminate fake news and sow discord in the West.

…[They even] went one step further by organizing events, rallies, and protests. The Internet Research Agency hired 100 American activists over the internet to hold 40 rallies across different US cities. Those people did not know they were working for a Russian organization, according to the investigation.

…In 2016 Russia’s propaganda network on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter could have reached 30 million people a week, and a Columbia University social-media analyst published research that found that Russian propaganda may have been shared billions of times on Facebook alone.

New details about a ‘troll farm’ shed light on Russia’s election meddling – Business Insider

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Trump has systematically undermined trust in the media and other institutions that play important roles in public health emergencies. He has explicitly said not to trust sources that he doesn’t personally approve.

He has engaged in what several columnists have called a “war on expertise.” 

…”[Trump] has lied about everything from trade deficits to Russian interference in US elections. He has disparaged experts at almost every opportunity,”

…”Trump’s disdain for science and his cuts to science and public health programs have subverted preparedness for emergencies like the coronavirus.”

… Trump claimed on Monday that the coronavirus was “very much under control in the USA.” A day later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus’ spread to the US was inevitable. He said the stock market is “starting to look very good” even as the Dow was nosediving amid coronavirus anxiety.

…Trump’s free-flowing falsehoods undermine the credibility of the government leaving the public unsure of who or what to trust.

Trump’s war on truth takes a dangerous turn as he attacks the media’s coronavirus coverage – CNN

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