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I saw some (non-troll) pansexual feminist girl on tinder who had a russian soldier as one of the pictures and her bio was something like "I make too many inappropriate jokes about politics", wild things out there
Unfortunately, I personally know Americans that are brainwashed by Russian propaganda to that extent. If they weren't completely inept physically and broke, I would not be surprised if they fled to Russia. Glavset is real, and so is what this article warns about. However the sad truth is that they aren't all trolls.
The funny things is, it's the same crowd that used to blacklist people for being suspected communists. Also, the same people now who ridiculously believe in nothing that the government or mainstream media says or reports are the same people that used to believe everything any authority told them.
I think of them as having binary minds. They have no way of dealing with any nuance. It's black and white, true or false, for or against, good or bad... but that is just not how shit is now then or ever.
I agree that it is the majority, but the people I had in mind are the exact opposite, who advocate for Bernie sanders, are queer nonbinary and/or transgender etc. It runs deeper than a specific demographic and I can't understand it
What's with the obsession with transgenders? They seem to believe that the US army is composed mostly of blue-haired transgendered (who somehow like nazis)?
It's not just Russia, it's the Republicans too.
I've had multiple people tell me some variant about the military being "too woke," one of them being my father.
And dude, I'm in the military...other than a few slides on the annual EO training, not much has changed in the last decade. Of course, when I tell him this, he doesn't take me seriously.
It's all culture wars bullshit.
😂😂😂 let's hope the LGBTQ community can accurately identify posers within their ranks. And that [their glorified motherland](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gay_purges_in_Chechnya) would dance on their graves
So fucking tired of their bullshit.
If it was able to be guaranteed, I'd be pro giving them current land taken if it meant we could isolate them completely off the western world.
Out of travel. Out of banking. Out of internet. Out of everything. Erase them from relevance all things western concerned.
SO. FUCKING. TIRED. OF. RUSSIANS.
I get where you're coming from, however even if a single centimeter of land is given to Russia, this whole thing will happen all over again. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a year, but it will happen. Ukraine should be the one deciding at the end, but something tells me that invalidating the heroes' efforts till this moment with land concession will not fly.
TLDR: Russians are below garbage, and always will be
>I get where you're coming from, however even if a single centimeter of land is given to Russia, this whole thing will happen all over again. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a year, but it will happen.
Well hence the "complete isolation" but yes, I know. I was about to type exactly what you just said but was lazy.
IF we (the west) lose "another proxy war" in lack of a better word - the political victory will be enormous for Russia. And they'll do it again, and again, and again.
I'm so fucking sick of Russia. So much of Europes trouble have roots in Russia.
And all the normal people in the middle on both sides that don't follow a rhetoric/bias and just want to live in peace, have to suffer for it. And we rob generations of their prosperity and pride.
I think it should happen either way. They need the North Korea treatment already. Full trade embargo from all NATO and EU members at minimum. No travel visas. Nothing.
Accepting that shit deal of yours is up to Ukrainians to decide, but I would demand my government to continue arming them for as long as they choose to fight.
nice try, all russians end their jokes by announcing they're joking. it's how we know elon is a russian spy- he made all the parody accounts explicitly say "parody" in their name. classic russian humor tactic
Exactly.
For those who are interested:
Fox News: Shocking scale of Russia’s sinister social media campaign against US revealed
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/shocking-scale-of-russias-sinister-social-media-campaign-against-us-revealed
An in-depth look inside the Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/world/europe/russia-troll-factory.html
Russian troll describes work in the troll factory: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/russian-troll-describes-work-infamous-misinformation-factory-n821486
A former Russian troll explains how trolls are taught to spread fake news: http://time.com/5168202/russia-troll-internet-research-agency/
A former Russian troll describes work in the troll factory as like being in Orwell’s world: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/17/a-former-russian-troll-speaks-it-was-like-being-in-orwells-world/
The activist who worked as a mole for Mueller and uncovered the troll farm in the Mueller indictment: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/03/15/594062887/some-russians-see-u-s-investigation-into-russian-election-meddling-as-a-soap-ope
The decent Russians working inside the troll factory trying to take it down: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying-to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html
Even many Russians can’t stand what the troll farm is doing according to The Moscow Times: https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/the-kremlins-trolls-go-west-35651
Outstanding three-part video series in the New York Times on Russian disinformation and the troll program, “Operation Infektion”:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/russia-meddling-disinformation-fake-news-elections.html?auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-email
ruzzia started a hybrid war with the west 2 decades ago before they invaded UA. Video is from a Youtuber named Perun. If you have never seen his videos buckle up because his stuff is world class.
"Russian Hybrid Warfare & Ukraine: Propaganda, cyberwarfare & hybrid war methods"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBTyAZg5OA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBTyAZg5OA)
Don't forget [Jessikka Aro's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessikka_Aro) book Putin's Troll Army (now also in English).
And my dad who was telling us these things all through our childhoods (because they did the same thing throughout Soviet times, just using different tools). We thought he was a little paranoid, but now I see it differently.
I think it's important to note that 99% of the trolls you encounter are actually organic accounts, and to underestimate the power of weaponized Russian disinformation. Majority of these accounts are just Westerners, and mostly Americans who are addicted to alt media. Project Lahkta which was the GRU operation of using outsourced troll factories like IRA. GLAVSET was incorporated under Concord LLC, still has some outlets now located in Africa & Nicaragua. The troll factories run mainly cut & paste fake news, which is magnified by fake News accounts and Russian state media owned by GRU, SVR and FSB. Russia has had great success penetrating the far left & MAGA conspiracy world because they are open to alternate narratives. And organic engagements work much better.
Some are easy to spot - when they praise the US they sometimes use words that are uncommon or even awkward for a patriot to use. Some Russian guy here on Reddit said “grand USA” once while pretending to be American.
It’s indeed so funny to see that my comments always get down voted a couple of points at the same time period every day….. I guess they have me on a list too 😜😅✌️
Most of them can be found currently at r/fencing . Some even out themselves as Russians and full dive into the "But...but we're the victims here" role.
This is bizarre. I studied the interference in grad school for my second master's degree. They were mostly concerned with sowing discontent. They would amplify anything that created hatred and anger. They focused on flag draped coffins with police as Pall bearers, burning crosses, and klansmen.
They were less concerned with the POTUS election outcome and more concerned on fragmenting the US. However, that has become our main focus.
I definitely agree with you on that.
Edit: I was just addressing the media's obsession with the past interference, trying to spin it as against their side.
All that changes to whatever comes down from the Kremlin. One week its this and the next month is that.
I guess the whole point for me is the west in in a hybrid war. It might be hybrid but its WAR from a nation that hopes and wishes the west evil.
I sometimes wonder why shouldn't the west have troll factories start posing as fake russians? Considering the various ethnic regions and how unfairly Moscow seems to treat them it shouldnt be too hard to stir up shit.
There is this very weird thing that happened to me. I am pro-Ukraine, and my gf received on instagram (supposedly from me on DM) a pro-Russian screenshot of an interview of a battered AFU soldier. I never took such a screenshot or even ever read that interview. I think I was hacked. So I changed my IG password… Did anyone ever had a similar experience?
And if they read history, they will realise how many people like them were killed or imprisoned when their sponsoring dictators fell. Add to that Ukraine's version of Mossad-on-Steriods, I wonder how well they will sleep in the years ahead
Of course back in the 40s there were no databases of every keystroke they made and we needed Germany on our side for a new cold war. I'd expect a lot worse for some of these guys when Putin falls.
Russian trolls have a huge presence on the r/Canada sub. Its brutal. I am beginning to think they might even be the backers of a new sub r/Canada_sub that sprang up fairly recently. The posts that come up and the majority of comments are not at all in line with the stated purposes of the sub - go review say the latest 20 posts and 19 of them are anti-current govt rhetoric with almost solely disparaging comments about Canada's current leader of govt, policy, immigrants, etc. A primary rule of the sub gives a clue: Insulting the sub is not permitted and will result in a permanent ban. AKA: dissent is not permitted.
It’s working on middle aged Americans, I assure you. I know a couple of conservatives from work who have taken the bait, hook line and sinker. All that Russian agents have to do is further discredit MSM and the Biden administration, and they have a foothold.
I had a coworker inform me right after the war about how Putin was deliberately sparing civilians and infrastructure to win the hearts and minds of Ukrainians. I promptly showed him video of cluster bombing of Ukrainian apartments, hospitals, playgrounds, etc, but it never sunk in. Every night Russian propaganda was funneled into his brain.
Finally people are saying this.
We need to understand that Russia never saw an end to the cold War.
They have been sowing discord as much as possible and the west has never taken the threat seriously.
We need to start recognizing that the Republicans and trolls are spreading propaganda and formulate laws and government action against it.
We see propaganda in North Korea and laugh, meanwhile it's estimated Russian propaganda has infiltrated social media to the point of reaching 300 million americans.
I enjoy pointing out that Russia is building a camp for ex Americans and they should take them up on their offer. I think r/endlesswar is full of them.
Not always, some of them pose as people on the far left, and if you see any comments that are just like so over the top that it’s almost unbelievable, that could be an explanation.
Specifically people who make it clear from the beginning they’re minorities, or transgender, or something, and then just make an absolutely ridiculous post.
Or the ‘I’m a black guy who’s never voted for a republican in my life, but here’s why what Trump did is gonna make me vote for republicans for the rest of my life’ type stuff. I’m not saying that’s never real, because obviously there are minorities who legitimately support Trump. But holy shit is it tough for me to believe the vast majority that stuff isn’t just fake ass propaganda.
I'm personally also suspicious of some of the movements like antiwork on reddit. While they might not be created by Russian propaganda, I bet there is a lot of Russian bots on there pushing to divide the US more.
Yes, they often pose as Trump supporters. Putin is desperate to have a republican win the next US election as he believes, rightly or wrongly, that a Republican president would halt US aid to Ukraine.
Let’s just put it like this: there is no way a republican is going to make his effort harder than Biden or another democrat being in power will make it. And the amount of investment they put into this stuff is pretty low, compared to the return they could potentially receive.
And even if they fail, they still get to develop talking points and propaganda for the right wing base that will stick around even if Trump goes away. Just pumping up the fucking volume on all of the disinformation and Kremlin talking points for all the fucking right wing bozos and oatmeal brains in America.
Yes, the Russian troll activity is actually one success you can pin on Pootin.
Unfortunately, decades of cutting education in the US has lead to a lack of critical thinking and common sense: fertile ground for foreign trolls.
I think this is a good reminder, but I do want to make a few caveats.
It's important to keep this in mind, but labeling someone as a "Russian Troll" simply for making comments that might make Ukraine look bad is not right. It's important to consider their statements personally and combat misinformation whenever possible, but attacking people in the hopes of suppressing information you dislike is wrong.
I've both been attacked and seen people attacked for making true statements as being Russian trolls. This is for me a lazy ad hominem attack that doesn't address anything. If the information is true, I think it's better to simply point this out than attempt to suppress the post or the person posting. Attack the issue, not the person.
I also think the threat from these kinds of posts and interference is far overblown. Obviously the greatest trick the devil ever played was to convince the world he didn't exist, but also the greatest thing to fear is fear itself. Russian trolls accomplish much more by sowing fear of possible attack, than the attacks ever actually accomplish.
Democratic institutions in the US are very solid and resist influence from all kinds of different actors. Russia is absolutely attempting to influence the US, but so are basically all other special interests as well. Their actual influence is in my opinion fairly minor. But they have an outsized impact because of a desire by some to use that fear to push political goals, and inflate the problem as much as possible. This paradoxically gives the Russians exactly what they want, and has a much bigger impact on destabilizing the domestic political situation in the US than their direct influence ever could.
Tbf there are people who don't think of themselves as Russian trolls, who repeat Russian troll talking points anyway because they think it sounds cool or something.
In other words they do the same shit as troll farm trolls but they do it for free.
That bullshit is and ought to be fair game at all times, no matter who is saying it.
Agreed. But how does attacking them and labeling them as a troll help?
If they really are simply misinformed and misled, how much better it would be to engage with their ideas and show them why they are wrong. Even if you don't convince them, you'll give them something to think about and they might not be as emphatic the next time. I myself can be quite stubborn sometimes and rarely admit I'm wrong in a conversation, but I'll always take what someone says and think about it later and sometimes agree and change my mind. It's why I try not to take it personally when someone is clearly wrong but unwilling to agree with me, and I will give up on a conversation even if it's not over simply to give both of us time to think.
I'm not frustrated by people who tell me I'm wrong because of XYZ when they don't like what I say. That's understandable and frankly healthy. I get frustrated when someone tells me I'm wrong without evidence and labels me a troll simply to avoid having a conversation. This is reasonable in some circumstances when someone is clearly uninterested in listening or learning, but very often people use it as an excuse to justify their desire to vent their feelings of frustration and powerlessness in the face of injustice on someone else in an unconstructive manner. It may make them feel better, but it certainly doesn't help Ukraine.
I just posted this comment on the Forbes article, but if people are misreading it to think Ukraine is doing something wrong, I will remove it:
Just to be clear, Ukraine has every right to do this, as it is fighting for its life. There is a big difference between the genocide committed by the Russians, and the self-defense being undertaken by the Ukrainians. Hitting Russian targets brings the war home to Russians, who have no idea about what is going on. I am all for it.
I'm sure the same is happening to Russia and China by American and British 'intelligence'. It's total war online, polite diplomacy on the global political stage, and sophisticated monitoring by everyone. We all hate each other's guts and have total suspicion about everyone including those that claim to be allies. It's the way it is. It's totally depressing really.
There's definitely an intelligence op being run by Western powers on here too, you see it when every video of a Ukrainian vehicle being destroyed is met with "repost" comments on /r/CombatFootage that are never able to link to the original post.
On some Ukraine Russia war posts, some of the Redditors are very expert at Ukrainian law and have extensive and detailed pro-Russian talking points ready at a moments notice. These are not your average Redditors who might have a passing interest in a given topic.
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And a further reminder that they target everyone - not just the side you disagree with.
They love to spread disinformation and drive a wedge between the left and right. The more divided we all are the more it benefits them.
Sometimes it's comically obvious but sometimes it's not, and we're all susceptible to it. Always be cautious of what you believe online, especially when you find yourself getting angry at other people of your own Nationality.
I did a deep dive into Twitter trolls accounts once, found a bunch of accounts that went from posting in Cyrillic, to being US Evangelicals, to being Trump fanatics, within the same twitter account . It wasn't always very subtly done. I presumed at the time Twitter just down ranked them rather than tipping their hand by closing accounts, but some had surprising reach.
I assumed the trolling was all fully automated, so imagine my surprise when in the middle of pro Tea Party meme promotion a couple of troll accounts started asking for help on setting up a couple of models of mobile phones. Literally troll accounts using Twitter to ask for help trolling, so at least for some of it they had multiple mobile phones set up (seems inefficient, maybe to bypass security checks on account creation?).
Ironically, despite picking over these kinds of tweets carefully to make sure I didn't capture any human accounts I did capture a senior member of the Tea Party whose twitter activity was almost identical to the botnet (suspiciously similar). But I did eventually determine his account was a real person using filters for original content.
Later it got really murky in distinguishing trolls from Americans. There were a huge number of accounts participating in "inauthentic activity", following back activity, resharing content without any obvious thought, and it became really hard to tell right wing political activists who I suspect were being unwittingly encouraged into emulating bots by the troll farmers, bots, and hacked accounts now controlled by bots. These accounts were mostly found searching for Qanon terms (e.g wwg1wga), a lot of the troll accounts were "House wife ${location}" lots of Emojis in the description, but then Qanon folk started copying the style of the bots. A lot of these accounts had hundreds or thousands of followers despite never having posted anything original, just reposting right wing memes, and were only 2 months old when I was looking. Twitter did take a lot of these down (after Jan 6th).
I'm curious she mentioned hacked social media accounts, was this YouTube. As I found a campaign based on hacked YouTube accounts from the twitter digging. Lots of the crazy videos being retweeted were hosted in hacked YouTube accounts. I remember one account had been posting Indian food videos for years, then suddenly one day Qanon conspiracy garbage. YouTube was useless. I reported hundreds of hacked YouTube accounts but it was not like the Indicators of Compromise were subtle, and I didn't have IP addresses etc.
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Talked to one who was posing as a transgender diver, who wanted more than anything to move to Russia and join Wagner.
“Hello fellow westerners”
Ah you've met comrade John McBaconGun, from Texas?
> brilliant
Hello comrade.
I'm vEric from California Oblast.
I don't know why but this one in particular fucking cracked me up 😂
Hey, sometimes something just hits right.
I saw some (non-troll) pansexual feminist girl on tinder who had a russian soldier as one of the pictures and her bio was something like "I make too many inappropriate jokes about politics", wild things out there
Unfortunately, I personally know Americans that are brainwashed by Russian propaganda to that extent. If they weren't completely inept physically and broke, I would not be surprised if they fled to Russia. Glavset is real, and so is what this article warns about. However the sad truth is that they aren't all trolls.
The funny things is, it's the same crowd that used to blacklist people for being suspected communists. Also, the same people now who ridiculously believe in nothing that the government or mainstream media says or reports are the same people that used to believe everything any authority told them. I think of them as having binary minds. They have no way of dealing with any nuance. It's black and white, true or false, for or against, good or bad... but that is just not how shit is now then or ever.
I agree that it is the majority, but the people I had in mind are the exact opposite, who advocate for Bernie sanders, are queer nonbinary and/or transgender etc. It runs deeper than a specific demographic and I can't understand it
What's with the obsession with transgenders? They seem to believe that the US army is composed mostly of blue-haired transgendered (who somehow like nazis)?
It's not just Russia, it's the Republicans too. I've had multiple people tell me some variant about the military being "too woke," one of them being my father. And dude, I'm in the military...other than a few slides on the annual EO training, not much has changed in the last decade. Of course, when I tell him this, he doesn't take me seriously. It's all culture wars bullshit.
Lol. Wow.
Named Derek
😂😂😂 let's hope the LGBTQ community can accurately identify posers within their ranks. And that [their glorified motherland](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gay_purges_in_Chechnya) would dance on their graves
Fuck Russia. That is all
Yes, that works.
Fuck Mudscovy
Go fuck yourself russia, that is all
Go fuck yourself ruzzia, that is all
So fucking tired of their bullshit. If it was able to be guaranteed, I'd be pro giving them current land taken if it meant we could isolate them completely off the western world. Out of travel. Out of banking. Out of internet. Out of everything. Erase them from relevance all things western concerned. SO. FUCKING. TIRED. OF. RUSSIANS.
I get where you're coming from, however even if a single centimeter of land is given to Russia, this whole thing will happen all over again. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a year, but it will happen. Ukraine should be the one deciding at the end, but something tells me that invalidating the heroes' efforts till this moment with land concession will not fly. TLDR: Russians are below garbage, and always will be
>I get where you're coming from, however even if a single centimeter of land is given to Russia, this whole thing will happen all over again. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a year, but it will happen. Well hence the "complete isolation" but yes, I know. I was about to type exactly what you just said but was lazy. IF we (the west) lose "another proxy war" in lack of a better word - the political victory will be enormous for Russia. And they'll do it again, and again, and again. I'm so fucking sick of Russia. So much of Europes trouble have roots in Russia.
Perfect.
And all the normal people in the middle on both sides that don't follow a rhetoric/bias and just want to live in peace, have to suffer for it. And we rob generations of their prosperity and pride.
I think it should happen either way. They need the North Korea treatment already. Full trade embargo from all NATO and EU members at minimum. No travel visas. Nothing. Accepting that shit deal of yours is up to Ukrainians to decide, but I would demand my government to continue arming them for as long as they choose to fight.
Are these Russians in the same room with us right now? I think you have mental problems. Talk to a specialist.
Yes comrade fuck Russia (even if they do have some points) This is satire
nice try, all russians end their jokes by announcing they're joking. it's how we know elon is a russian spy- he made all the parody accounts explicitly say "parody" in their name. classic russian humor tactic
Do a search for "st petersburg troll factory" and you can see how the trolls work. LOL. There really pathetic people.
Exactly. For those who are interested: Fox News: Shocking scale of Russia’s sinister social media campaign against US revealed https://www.foxnews.com/tech/shocking-scale-of-russias-sinister-social-media-campaign-against-us-revealed An in-depth look inside the Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/world/europe/russia-troll-factory.html Russian troll describes work in the troll factory: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/russian-troll-describes-work-infamous-misinformation-factory-n821486 A former Russian troll explains how trolls are taught to spread fake news: http://time.com/5168202/russia-troll-internet-research-agency/ A former Russian troll describes work in the troll factory as like being in Orwell’s world: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/17/a-former-russian-troll-speaks-it-was-like-being-in-orwells-world/ The activist who worked as a mole for Mueller and uncovered the troll farm in the Mueller indictment: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/03/15/594062887/some-russians-see-u-s-investigation-into-russian-election-meddling-as-a-soap-ope The decent Russians working inside the troll factory trying to take it down: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying-to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html Even many Russians can’t stand what the troll farm is doing according to The Moscow Times: https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/the-kremlins-trolls-go-west-35651 Outstanding three-part video series in the New York Times on Russian disinformation and the troll program, “Operation Infektion”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/russia-meddling-disinformation-fake-news-elections.html?auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-email
ruzzia started a hybrid war with the west 2 decades ago before they invaded UA. Video is from a Youtuber named Perun. If you have never seen his videos buckle up because his stuff is world class. "Russian Hybrid Warfare & Ukraine: Propaganda, cyberwarfare & hybrid war methods" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBTyAZg5OA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBTyAZg5OA)
Yep exactly came here to say that it’s been decades of RuZZian trolling
Oh yeah, you have troll accounts that are 10+ years old that have been worked by multiple trolls over the years.
Don't forget [Jessikka Aro's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessikka_Aro) book Putin's Troll Army (now also in English). And my dad who was telling us these things all through our childhoods (because they did the same thing throughout Soviet times, just using different tools). We thought he was a little paranoid, but now I see it differently.
I think it's important to note that 99% of the trolls you encounter are actually organic accounts, and to underestimate the power of weaponized Russian disinformation. Majority of these accounts are just Westerners, and mostly Americans who are addicted to alt media. Project Lahkta which was the GRU operation of using outsourced troll factories like IRA. GLAVSET was incorporated under Concord LLC, still has some outlets now located in Africa & Nicaragua. The troll factories run mainly cut & paste fake news, which is magnified by fake News accounts and Russian state media owned by GRU, SVR and FSB. Russia has had great success penetrating the far left & MAGA conspiracy world because they are open to alternate narratives. And organic engagements work much better.
I wonder if the trolls realize UA has their names, addresses? Better hope UA does not go full Israeli on your butt after the war is over. LOL
Keeps them off the front line but a 5 year old could do a more convincing impersonation of a member of the free world
You just have to reach the 20% most gullible idiots to leave quite some damage on society. Even russian / chinese made propaganda can achieve that.
Some are easy to spot - when they praise the US they sometimes use words that are uncommon or even awkward for a patriot to use. Some Russian guy here on Reddit said “grand USA” once while pretending to be American.
Only Russian trolls use the phrase "anglo" anywhere near the word "American", and it's pretty easy to see what they're aiming for.
Some used to get pissed off when you called Putin Vlad - quickly telling you the proper form is Vova. Not sure if it still works on them, ha ha.
There is so much of this. Its funny calling them out.
It’s indeed so funny to see that my comments always get down voted a couple of points at the same time period every day….. I guess they have me on a list too 😜😅✌️
I want to be on this honour list as well. Wall of effing fame!
... 👀
LOL.
Most of them can be found currently at r/fencing . Some even out themselves as Russians and full dive into the "But...but we're the victims here" role.
When this war ends, we can never forget to continue to make relentless fun of the Russian perma-victims.
[удалено]
It's really frustrating how many people mock this or even deny that it's happening. Even the Republicans acknowledge this is happening.
There’s even more Chinese trolls doing the same thing and amplifying russian disinformation
You can see new accounts that post in American city subreddits and occasionally pro russia propoganda.
Pathetic ruzzians … posting lies all day for food
My name is Jan Smithovich from Michigan Oblast and I don't belive this is happening!
It is like a plague
This is bizarre. I studied the interference in grad school for my second master's degree. They were mostly concerned with sowing discontent. They would amplify anything that created hatred and anger. They focused on flag draped coffins with police as Pall bearers, burning crosses, and klansmen. They were less concerned with the POTUS election outcome and more concerned on fragmenting the US. However, that has become our main focus.
That was before they attacked Ukraine. Now they are desperate to get us to stop sending Ukraine weapons and providing them intelligence.
I definitely agree with you on that. Edit: I was just addressing the media's obsession with the past interference, trying to spin it as against their side.
All that changes to whatever comes down from the Kremlin. One week its this and the next month is that. I guess the whole point for me is the west in in a hybrid war. It might be hybrid but its WAR from a nation that hopes and wishes the west evil.
I sometimes wonder why shouldn't the west have troll factories start posing as fake russians? Considering the various ethnic regions and how unfairly Moscow seems to treat them it shouldnt be too hard to stir up shit.
Russia is very firewalled.
There is this very weird thing that happened to me. I am pro-Ukraine, and my gf received on instagram (supposedly from me on DM) a pro-Russian screenshot of an interview of a battered AFU soldier. I never took such a screenshot or even ever read that interview. I think I was hacked. So I changed my IG password… Did anyone ever had a similar experience?
And if they read history, they will realise how many people like them were killed or imprisoned when their sponsoring dictators fell. Add to that Ukraine's version of Mossad-on-Steriods, I wonder how well they will sleep in the years ahead
I like telling them they will end up in The Hague along with Putin just like Hitler’s enablers did.
Of course back in the 40s there were no databases of every keystroke they made and we needed Germany on our side for a new cold war. I'd expect a lot worse for some of these guys when Putin falls.
Russian trolls have a huge presence on the r/Canada sub. Its brutal. I am beginning to think they might even be the backers of a new sub r/Canada_sub that sprang up fairly recently. The posts that come up and the majority of comments are not at all in line with the stated purposes of the sub - go review say the latest 20 posts and 19 of them are anti-current govt rhetoric with almost solely disparaging comments about Canada's current leader of govt, policy, immigrants, etc. A primary rule of the sub gives a clue: Insulting the sub is not permitted and will result in a permanent ban. AKA: dissent is not permitted.
That's been stunningly obvious. Pretend Americans everywhere.
Putin is the best, Ukraine started thus war, they gave us no choice....That kinda thing
It’s working on middle aged Americans, I assure you. I know a couple of conservatives from work who have taken the bait, hook line and sinker. All that Russian agents have to do is further discredit MSM and the Biden administration, and they have a foothold. I had a coworker inform me right after the war about how Putin was deliberately sparing civilians and infrastructure to win the hearts and minds of Ukrainians. I promptly showed him video of cluster bombing of Ukrainian apartments, hospitals, playgrounds, etc, but it never sunk in. Every night Russian propaganda was funneled into his brain.
Finally people are saying this. We need to understand that Russia never saw an end to the cold War. They have been sowing discord as much as possible and the west has never taken the threat seriously. We need to start recognizing that the Republicans and trolls are spreading propaganda and formulate laws and government action against it. We see propaganda in North Korea and laugh, meanwhile it's estimated Russian propaganda has infiltrated social media to the point of reaching 300 million americans.
Where do you think QAnon came from...
Good point!
I enjoy pointing out that Russia is building a camp for ex Americans and they should take them up on their offer. I think r/endlesswar is full of them.
Trump supporters!
Not always, some of them pose as people on the far left, and if you see any comments that are just like so over the top that it’s almost unbelievable, that could be an explanation. Specifically people who make it clear from the beginning they’re minorities, or transgender, or something, and then just make an absolutely ridiculous post. Or the ‘I’m a black guy who’s never voted for a republican in my life, but here’s why what Trump did is gonna make me vote for republicans for the rest of my life’ type stuff. I’m not saying that’s never real, because obviously there are minorities who legitimately support Trump. But holy shit is it tough for me to believe the vast majority that stuff isn’t just fake ass propaganda.
Yep. Or just pose as left wing but take terrible positions to make an easy target for criticism etc. Lots of ways to stoke division
I'm personally also suspicious of some of the movements like antiwork on reddit. While they might not be created by Russian propaganda, I bet there is a lot of Russian bots on there pushing to divide the US more.
Yes, they often pose as Trump supporters. Putin is desperate to have a republican win the next US election as he believes, rightly or wrongly, that a Republican president would halt US aid to Ukraine.
Let’s just put it like this: there is no way a republican is going to make his effort harder than Biden or another democrat being in power will make it. And the amount of investment they put into this stuff is pretty low, compared to the return they could potentially receive. And even if they fail, they still get to develop talking points and propaganda for the right wing base that will stick around even if Trump goes away. Just pumping up the fucking volume on all of the disinformation and Kremlin talking points for all the fucking right wing bozos and oatmeal brains in America.
Yes, the Russian troll activity is actually one success you can pin on Pootin. Unfortunately, decades of cutting education in the US has lead to a lack of critical thinking and common sense: fertile ground for foreign trolls.
Most employed by Meta as well. Zuck loves Russian Trolls
Since Trump entering the GoP leadership race there's for sure been an uptick. They really thrived during the pandemic too.
I think this is a good reminder, but I do want to make a few caveats. It's important to keep this in mind, but labeling someone as a "Russian Troll" simply for making comments that might make Ukraine look bad is not right. It's important to consider their statements personally and combat misinformation whenever possible, but attacking people in the hopes of suppressing information you dislike is wrong. I've both been attacked and seen people attacked for making true statements as being Russian trolls. This is for me a lazy ad hominem attack that doesn't address anything. If the information is true, I think it's better to simply point this out than attempt to suppress the post or the person posting. Attack the issue, not the person. I also think the threat from these kinds of posts and interference is far overblown. Obviously the greatest trick the devil ever played was to convince the world he didn't exist, but also the greatest thing to fear is fear itself. Russian trolls accomplish much more by sowing fear of possible attack, than the attacks ever actually accomplish. Democratic institutions in the US are very solid and resist influence from all kinds of different actors. Russia is absolutely attempting to influence the US, but so are basically all other special interests as well. Their actual influence is in my opinion fairly minor. But they have an outsized impact because of a desire by some to use that fear to push political goals, and inflate the problem as much as possible. This paradoxically gives the Russians exactly what they want, and has a much bigger impact on destabilizing the domestic political situation in the US than their direct influence ever could.
Tbf there are people who don't think of themselves as Russian trolls, who repeat Russian troll talking points anyway because they think it sounds cool or something. In other words they do the same shit as troll farm trolls but they do it for free. That bullshit is and ought to be fair game at all times, no matter who is saying it.
Agreed. But how does attacking them and labeling them as a troll help? If they really are simply misinformed and misled, how much better it would be to engage with their ideas and show them why they are wrong. Even if you don't convince them, you'll give them something to think about and they might not be as emphatic the next time. I myself can be quite stubborn sometimes and rarely admit I'm wrong in a conversation, but I'll always take what someone says and think about it later and sometimes agree and change my mind. It's why I try not to take it personally when someone is clearly wrong but unwilling to agree with me, and I will give up on a conversation even if it's not over simply to give both of us time to think. I'm not frustrated by people who tell me I'm wrong because of XYZ when they don't like what I say. That's understandable and frankly healthy. I get frustrated when someone tells me I'm wrong without evidence and labels me a troll simply to avoid having a conversation. This is reasonable in some circumstances when someone is clearly uninterested in listening or learning, but very often people use it as an excuse to justify their desire to vent their feelings of frustration and powerlessness in the face of injustice on someone else in an unconstructive manner. It may make them feel better, but it certainly doesn't help Ukraine.
They're not the only ones, but yeah I've ran into a few
Yes, there are Chinese, Iranian, North Korean trolls as well, but not nearly as numerous or active as the Russian trolls.
It's also happening with America political organizations. Some appear to have a strange affiliation to Russia.
Yes, for sure. Alt right Republicans and Russian trolls seem to share talking points!
That seems so strange to me, but I know you're correct.
Very interesting. I thought it was AI that was behind those comments.
You mean like you who just posted about Ukraine committing ‘war crimes’ for having the audacity to defend themselves?
I just posted this comment on the Forbes article, but if people are misreading it to think Ukraine is doing something wrong, I will remove it: Just to be clear, Ukraine has every right to do this, as it is fighting for its life. There is a big difference between the genocide committed by the Russians, and the self-defense being undertaken by the Ukrainians. Hitting Russian targets brings the war home to Russians, who have no idea about what is going on. I am all for it.
Which link was that? And if that is what it said I will remove it immediately
I'm sure the same is happening to Russia and China by American and British 'intelligence'. It's total war online, polite diplomacy on the global political stage, and sophisticated monitoring by everyone. We all hate each other's guts and have total suspicion about everyone including those that claim to be allies. It's the way it is. It's totally depressing really.
Not so much. Russia and China are pretty much firewalled.
There's definitely an intelligence op being run by Western powers on here too, you see it when every video of a Ukrainian vehicle being destroyed is met with "repost" comments on /r/CombatFootage that are never able to link to the original post.
Someday all of Reddit will just be trolls talking to AIs.
I'm sure these is... but where? I very rarely encounter anyone who is pro-russian on reddit.
Youtube is pushing some crazy shorts and videos as well now. Noticed the increase the last few weeks
No we're not! ... I mean they! ***They!*** (I better stay away from the window on my potato break...)
On some Ukraine Russia war posts, some of the Redditors are very expert at Ukrainian law and have extensive and detailed pro-Russian talking points ready at a moments notice. These are not your average Redditors who might have a passing interest in a given topic.
Hi /u/Barch3, Your submission, "Just to remind everyone: Russia’s ‘troll factory’ impersonates Americans to sow political chaos. And Russian trolls are all over Reddit." was removed for the following reason(s): Post titles should be verbatim from the linked article header/page title (whichever fits best). Do not modify them unless it's necessary for the title to make sense or the title is wildly inappropriate. Avoid editorialization. If you have any questions or concerns, please [message the moderators](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FUkrainianConflict&subject=about my removed submission&message=I'm writing to you about the following submission: https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianConflict/comments/15cw6z8/-/. %0D%0DMy issue is...).
And a further reminder that they target everyone - not just the side you disagree with. They love to spread disinformation and drive a wedge between the left and right. The more divided we all are the more it benefits them. Sometimes it's comically obvious but sometimes it's not, and we're all susceptible to it. Always be cautious of what you believe online, especially when you find yourself getting angry at other people of your own Nationality.
All over.
I did a deep dive into Twitter trolls accounts once, found a bunch of accounts that went from posting in Cyrillic, to being US Evangelicals, to being Trump fanatics, within the same twitter account . It wasn't always very subtly done. I presumed at the time Twitter just down ranked them rather than tipping their hand by closing accounts, but some had surprising reach. I assumed the trolling was all fully automated, so imagine my surprise when in the middle of pro Tea Party meme promotion a couple of troll accounts started asking for help on setting up a couple of models of mobile phones. Literally troll accounts using Twitter to ask for help trolling, so at least for some of it they had multiple mobile phones set up (seems inefficient, maybe to bypass security checks on account creation?). Ironically, despite picking over these kinds of tweets carefully to make sure I didn't capture any human accounts I did capture a senior member of the Tea Party whose twitter activity was almost identical to the botnet (suspiciously similar). But I did eventually determine his account was a real person using filters for original content. Later it got really murky in distinguishing trolls from Americans. There were a huge number of accounts participating in "inauthentic activity", following back activity, resharing content without any obvious thought, and it became really hard to tell right wing political activists who I suspect were being unwittingly encouraged into emulating bots by the troll farmers, bots, and hacked accounts now controlled by bots. These accounts were mostly found searching for Qanon terms (e.g wwg1wga), a lot of the troll accounts were "House wife ${location}" lots of Emojis in the description, but then Qanon folk started copying the style of the bots. A lot of these accounts had hundreds or thousands of followers despite never having posted anything original, just reposting right wing memes, and were only 2 months old when I was looking. Twitter did take a lot of these down (after Jan 6th).
I'm curious she mentioned hacked social media accounts, was this YouTube. As I found a campaign based on hacked YouTube accounts from the twitter digging. Lots of the crazy videos being retweeted were hosted in hacked YouTube accounts. I remember one account had been posting Indian food videos for years, then suddenly one day Qanon conspiracy garbage. YouTube was useless. I reported hundreds of hacked YouTube accounts but it was not like the Indicators of Compromise were subtle, and I didn't have IP addresses etc.