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One Professional Russian Troll Tells All
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) ^ | March 25, 2015 | Dmitry Volchek and Daisy Sindelar

Posted on 03/26/2015 7:55:01 AM PDT by WhiskeyX

More and more, posts and commentaries on the Internet in Russia and even abroad are generated by professional trolls, many of whom receive a higher-than-average salary for perpetuating a pro-Kremlin dialogue online.

There are thousands of fake accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, and vKontakte, all increasingly focused on the war in Ukraine. Many emanate from Russia's most famous "troll factory," the Internet Research center, an unassuming building on St. Petersburg's Savushkina Street, which runs on a 24-hour cycle. In recent weeks, former employees have come forward to talk to RFE/RL about life inside the factory, where hundreds of people work grinding, 12-hour shifts in exchange for 40,000 rubles ($700) a month or more.

St. Petersburg blogger Marat Burkhard spent two months working at Internet Research in the department tasked with clogging the forums on Russia's municipal websites with pro-Kremlin comments. In the following interview, he describes a typical day and the type of assignments he encountered.

(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: disinformation; internetresearch; propaganda; russia
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To: WhiskeyX

The democrat party must have the same setup. The trolls come out when ever there is another democrat scandal from one of their politicians or an election is near.


21 posted on 03/26/2015 9:08:23 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: WhiskeyX; All

Internet “Troll” operations are a fact of Online life now. EVERYBODY has them, firms in DC make tons of money from it pushing Democrats. Some aren’t even human.

Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online

Whoever said, “Money can’t buy you friends,” clearly hasn’t been on the Internet recently.

This past week, I bought 4,000 new followers on Twitter for the price of a cup of coffee. I picked up 4,000 friends on Facebook for the same $5 and, for a few dollars more, had half of them like a photo I shared on the site.

If I had been willing to shell out $3,700, I could have made one million — yes, a million — new friends on Instagram. For an extra $40, 10,000 of them would have liked one of my sunset photos.

Retweets. Likes. Favorites. Comments. Upvotes. Page views. You name it; they’re for sale on websites like Swenzy, Fiverr and countless others.

Many of my new friends live outside the United States, mostly in India, Bangladesh, Romania and Russia — and they are not exactly human. They are bots, or lines of code. But they were built to behave like people on social media sites
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/friends-and-influence-for-sale-online/?_r=0


22 posted on 03/26/2015 9:08:29 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: sauropod

.


23 posted on 03/26/2015 9:09:15 AM PDT by sauropod (I am His and He is mine.)
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To: WhiskeyX

Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion Forums: Implications for Consumers and Firms

Management Science Magazine
Vol. 52, No. 10 (Oct., 2006)
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20110630?sid=21106252669643&uid=3739656&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256


24 posted on 03/26/2015 9:12:29 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: justlurking

“Ha, ha, it took all of 15 minutes and the first one showed up as post number 6.
That’s interesting: his join date is in 2001. So, either he has been doing this a long time, or a sympathetic hacker provided a username/password for an inactive account.

Or, he is just joking. But, his recent posting history makes that unlikely.”

After more than a YEAR of this crap, it isn’t hard to understand how the Ukie troll works.

Anything not pre-approved Ukraine State Government Propaganda, or anything that might make the coup government look bad, no matter what the facts are, is “Supporting Putin”.

I’ve asked them MANY times to tell me about the Pre-Maidan Soros/Omidyar-financed “Tech Camps”, that trained hundreds of “Internet Activists” to push Euromaidan/RightSector propaganda, that CNN lauded on air, but oddly, I can’t get any of them to reply.


25 posted on 03/26/2015 9:17:50 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: WhiskeyX
THIS "PAID RUSSIAN TROLL" STORY ONE MORE EXEMPLE OF RIDICULOUS LIES PERPETRATED AGAINST PRESIDENT PUTIN WHO IS SO GOOD PRESIDENT AND IS ONLY FOR MAKING MATUSHKA MOTHER RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN. I FROM FARM IN BOSTON MASSACHUSSETTS IN AMERICA AND WE SEE LOTS OF ANTI RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA ALWAYS. GOD BLESS AMERICA, AND ALL MY FAMILIES AND FRIENDS WHO LIVE HERE AND ALSO GOD BLESS OUR FRIENDS IN RUSSIA AND MAY EVERYONE ALWAYS DO WHAT PUTIN SAY! GO OBAMA!
26 posted on 03/26/2015 9:20:00 AM PDT by golux
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To: lormand

We have one here at Freerepublic. His/her name is “Paid_Russian_Troll”
The account is allowed to fester here, and is only used to post pro-KGB propaganda.

I believe that is someone that changed their profile name to tweek people like you.

I could be wrong, but it is funny to watch.


27 posted on 03/26/2015 9:20:15 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: Paid_Russian_Troll

Why did you choose such a specific sign up name that is so time specific, that is baffling today, and will be totally baffling if you anticipated being here 10 years from?

Why did you create that sign up name? It is obviously mission specific.


28 posted on 03/26/2015 9:21:27 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: tcrlaf; Paid_Russian_Troll

Like you, I also suspicion that he is a retread troll.


29 posted on 03/26/2015 9:22:32 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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Comment #30 Removed by Moderator

To: mac_truck

“How much do you get paid to peddle the US State Dept. version of events?”

Since it is zero it must be less than what you get out of your own Pandering for Putin. As a certain wise man once said, “I may be arguing in my spare time. (John Cleese, Argument Clinic, Monty Python)”


31 posted on 03/26/2015 9:30:35 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: PatHimself

“Probably true, but as to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) aren’t they also paid government agencies?”

Shhhhh....
You aren’t supposed to notice that.
Even noting that could man you are a “racist!”.
... errr...
I mean ... “PUTINISTA!”


32 posted on 03/26/2015 9:32:03 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: tcrlaf
I suggest they change their profile to "Paid_Romney_Troll" and see how long they last without getting zotted.

I'm not sure why Putin-lovers get accounts here and get to post KGB propaganda, but Romney trolls get zotted faster than lightning.

It appears to me that you seem to have some pleasure in seeing people get "tweaked" by Putin lovers, more than tweaking you into realizing that Putin lovers are fellow Freepers like you?

33 posted on 03/26/2015 9:32:37 AM PDT by lormand (Inside every liberal is a dung slinging monkey)
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To: tcrlaf

As always, every time an article is posted about the way in which the Putin regime is using paid Internet to conduct information warfare with false propaganda and disinformation you and the other Putin Panderers show up to try and change the subject to anyone and everyone other than Putin and his criminal Russian regime.


34 posted on 03/26/2015 9:35:04 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: lormand

If Romney had used “Paid Trolls”, and Obama/SEIU-like paid Internet manipulators, he very well could have been President right now.

Either his advisors didn’t consider it, or “Mr. Nice Guy” thought it was too creepy to use.


35 posted on 03/26/2015 9:36:45 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: tcrlaf

Yeah, you like to tie your victims hands and feet together as you beat them to death with your false propaganda and disinformation. It’s not fair to have your victim fight back with the truth and strip away your cloak of dishonesty.


36 posted on 03/26/2015 9:37:54 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

“every time an article is posted about the way in which the Putin regime is using paid Internet to conduct information warfare with false propaganda and disinformation”

Because YOU, as you have done at LEAST a dozen times now, are trying to create the FALSE impression that only Russia does it.

Well, I got news for ya, EVERYBODY does it now, from Russia, to Kiev, to Proctor & Gambel in Cincinnati.


37 posted on 03/26/2015 9:39:30 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: WhiskeyX

“Yeah, you like to tie your victims hands and feet together as you beat them to death with your false propaganda and disinformation. It’s not fair to have your victim fight back with the truth and strip away your cloak of dishonesty.”

Oh.... k.....
Violent fantasy now, as well, eh??
Sorry your propaganda try got quashed by the facts yet again, but there ya have it.


38 posted on 03/26/2015 9:41:31 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: WhiskeyX

Thanks Obama, for ‘gifting’ the Internet to the world.


39 posted on 03/26/2015 9:47:58 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: liberalh8ter; WhiskeyX
http://wiki.techcampglobal.org/index.php?title=TechCamp:Kyiv
40 posted on 03/26/2015 9:50:03 AM PDT by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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