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 ...
I love you too, Laz!
Some warm up required.
Quit posting to me. Thank you.
Oh, Laz, LOL. Now we got us a thread goin’ here !
“Concurring bump...nothing says ‘kooky’ like a forum troll who takes himself seriously.”
What does that fake comment have to do with the subject of the news article which is the topic of discussion, the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency?
Why don’t you stick to the topic and tell us what you know about Mikhail Bystrov at the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency.
I’m good at getting a thread moving.
Mikhail - the ballet guy ?
Kind of like a thread laxative ? Or Lazative ?
The worst is the stealth troll.
I do that a lot.
There are a lot of threads about Russia and Ukraine that I don’t post in.
But... it’s like... I’m there.
You know ?
Just hangin’ out.
Nobody can see me in those threads.
They don’t even know I’m there. Cuz I don’t move a muscle. I’m dead still. Not even blinkin’ my eyes. And that’s hard for me, cuz I’m a sneezer. Kept me outta all kinds of important assignments. You can’t sneeze when you’re flyin’ a plane and you got an oxygen mask on. Or if you’re on some secret mission and you’re a sniper. I mean, when I sneeze - you can hear it all over the neighborhood. It literally scares away the black bears. They’re like “what was that - dude, I’m outta here” to their friends.
But on lots of those Russian threads... I can sit there completely unnoticed.
Just influencin’ the conversation, without sayin’ a word.
It’s like all in my mind - I got these mental powers. Trained at the Russian troll school. It’s not in the Kremlin. Can’t tell you where it is. Super-secret. I don’t even know myself.
Thanks for having me on your ping list...
“Mikhail - the ballet guy?”
No, Colonel Mikhail Bystrov, a police official who operates the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency. I’m wondering whether or not, for example, he also has affiliations with the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service), FSB (Federal Security Service), or otherwise? There has to be some reason why he was hired by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is Putin’s owner-agent for the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency.
You got me. ;’P
“Stop being a paid Russian troll.”
You can stop making the false accusation and try commenting on the subject of this news article, the St. Petersburg Internet News Agency. I wouldn’t have to be typing all of this garbage if you guys would stop spamming this thread with all of this extraneous garbage that has nothing to do with...(let’s have it again)...the St. Petersburg Internet News Agency and their Russian Internet trolls. Look, if you want some kind of variety, you can also comment about the Russians trolling people on Twitter. At least stop trying to change the subject.
I don’t understand why you would work against the interests of the United States like you are doing, unless, of course, you were a paid Russian troll.
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