Russia's troll army?

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MikeC

MikeC

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It seems Mr Putin has been mobilizing his troops to sway the comment sections of various publications -


http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america
External Quote:

In email correspondence with BuzzFeed, a representative of the group claimed they were "not hackers in the classical sense."
"We are trying to change reality. Reality has indeed begun to change as a result of the appearance of our information in public," wrote the representative, whose email account is named Shaltai Boltai, which is the Russian for tragic nursery rhyme hero Humpty Dumpty.
Documents: https://mega.co.nz/#!X5gSBBBZ!W9Iw2Q_sdkxBbFKR-yhnykQd8V4RQ9tcPt5Gdt128HA [138MB of Russian emails]
 
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This is a german Blog presenting some proofable "Lies" by russian Media about the Ukraine...

http://criticusnixalsverdruss.wordpress.com/

Sorry, it´s in German, but Pictures and Videos are visible without knowing the Language

--- Later edit:

It is well-known in Germany that Russia has used payed Hackers to disturb the web-based financial struture of Ukrainian some years ago.

And regarding the Transparents and Shields at the so called "Peace-Demonstrations" in Germany (against german Mainstream-Media and for the "russian View") every Monday, something really jumps in the eye. Most of them are very unprofessional. But some are printed in High-Quality prefering the russian point of view. There is a roumor here in Germany that everybody who will protest on demonstrations in "the Russian way" will get about 30 Euro per day. But this is just a roumor and i only watch the activities in Germany via Social Media, so don´t trust me what I´m writing here. Maybe I´m also influenced by the Media. ;)
 
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I am an admin on a couple of pages that attract CTers like flies and I am so sick of posts linked to RT. We have a lot of folks with Slavic names posting pro Putin stuff.
 
Aren't they technically shills, not trolls?
If they're just trying to generate antagonism and controversy then they're trolls, but if they're trying to influence opinion then they're shills.
 
Pete Tar said:
Aren't they technically shills, not trolls?
If they're just trying to generate antagonism and controversy then they're trolls, but if they're trying to influence opinion then they're shills.
Click to expand...

What if they are trying to influence opinion by generating antagonism and controversy?

Semantics, but if you look at RT, they rarely say "Russia is great", instead they stir things up by discussing American involvement in things, even suggesting 9/11 was "an inside job"
 
FWIW there are two hard core right wing conspiracy believers on the surfing forum that I frequent. They are both locally grown Brevard County, Florida rednecks. They often post RT stuff. Basically with those two guys they don't care what is the source as long as the source is anti-Obama and/or favors whatever conspiracy it is they are banging.

New
It's interesting, they're classic flag waving xenophobic southern rednecks but it doesn't phase them in the least to post a link to some foreign tabloid if the story fits their narrative.
 
Mick West said:
It's rather suspicious that so many Conspiracy Theorists are big fans of RT an Putin.

Of course this makes ME a CT. But it's an interesting correlation, even if there is no causation
Click to expand...

Many of the people I have come across that are promoting the chemtrail and other conspiracies are also anarchists and former Ron Paul supporters and it seems that they look for any source of anti-government propaganda to repost. RT and PressTV have been among their news feeds and provides them with a stead source of anti-(US) government propaganda.... as do the other sites such as Infowars and the like. They network through various Facebook conspiracy groups as well, I suspect they encourage each other to bomb the comments section of any post that touches upon their subjects of interest to draw attention to their conspiracy theories.
 
The article in the OP sems to mainly discuss actual Russians, with their bad English. Is there any evidence of US citizens being recruited to do similar things?
 
Mick West said:
....actual Russians, with their bad English.
Click to expand...

Does Google Translate not work everywhere?

(I kid, sorry....a bit facetious here). But on a serious note, I try to grasp the gist of ANY post that is made (online) when not in English.
Often, running through Google can result in some results that are still un-translatable...but the gist is usually there, even if the nuances are not.

EDIT: In my Condo I have Russian-speaking neighbors. I am fascinated by the Cyrillic language, and the characters in their "alphabet". My grasp of Russian is limited to "dosvedanya" and "speceba"...AND of course, "nyet" and "da"....(duh!!)...sadly. But, perhaps one day I will learn more.

(French, I took in High School...doesn't help AT ALL, in this situation!!) ;)
 
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scombrid said:
FWIW there are two hard core right wing conspiracy believers on the surfing forum that I frequent. They are both locally grown Brevard County, Florida rednecks. They often post RT stuff. Basically with those two guys they don't care what is the source as long as the source is anti-Obama and/or favors whatever conspiracy it is they are banging.

New
It's interesting, they're classic flag waving xenophobic southern rednecks but it doesn't phase them in the least to post a link to some foreign tabloid if the story fits their narrative.
Click to expand...
Florida Rednecks ? Pretty harsh slurs there Mr government worker ? Remember those rednecks probably pay for you to paddle around all day ?
 
How do you know they're not Florida rednecks? Such people exist don't they?

(however lets not get into a discussion of what is and what is not a redneck, it's not likely to be helpful.)
 
Pete Tar said:
How do you know they're not Florida rednecks? Such people exist don't they?

(however lets not get into a discussion of what is and what is not a redneck, it's not likely to be helpful.)
Click to expand...
External Quote:
The term Redneck is chiefly used for a poor rural white person of the Southern United States. It can be a derogatory slang term[1][2] similar in meaning to cracker (especially regarding Georgia and Florida), hillbilly (especially regarding Appalachia and the Ozarks),[3] and white trash
It goes against posting guidelines
 
Joe said:
It goes against posting guidelines
Click to expand...

Okay Mick can make that call - try to get back on topic.

Joe said:
I think The Russians have every right to send out Trolls or Shills to defeat American Propaganda as well . There is plenty from both sides .
Click to expand...
A statement that would be much more useful if you backed it up with some evidence please. (ie, equivalent shills paid to post 'american views')
 
Syrez said:
- But that more than that, what is important to distinguish here that there is a genuine outpouring of criticism from ordinary people, be they Russian, Spanish, German, Syrian, American... Not propaganda. Genuine feeling.
Click to expand...
That's important - people are capable of having opinions on their own that may loosely align with certain agenda interests, but they should be judged on the accuracy of the claims rather than any suspicion of shilling.
eg, when the father of a victim of a recent shooting made public statements for further gun control he was accused of being a plant by an anti-gun government conspiracy, clearly an astounding injustice and insult to his painful experience.
The possibilty of Russian shills just means we have to give careful scrutiny to claims. Errors in facts should be easily spotted, but can just be susceptibility to bad information and not deliberate.
Lets not assume people aren't genuine in their views.
 
Syrez said:
They have the largest share because fewer and fewer people (relatively) are interested in listening to western points of view any longer.
Click to expand...
Yes, but that doesn't make them more correct or free from editorial influence. It just reflects a general trend in popular opinion.

Josh Heuer said:
How does this fit the posting guidelines?
What is the claim being debunked?
Hmm?
Click to expand...
There is room for general discussion here too.

(edit) but the claim is - there is a co-ordinated movement to promote Russian establishment views.
 
Pete Tar said:
Okay Mick can make that call - try to get back on topic.


A statement that would be much more useful if you backed it up with some evidence please. (ie, equivalent shills paid to post 'american views')
Click to expand...
The American view is covered by traditional western media. They have no need for paid shills, though they may exist. It is now a battle where individuals from the very top down have to fight to be heard. Views that reflect popular thought prevail.
 
Pete Tar said:
Yes, but that doesn't make them more correct or free from editorial influence. It just reflects a general trend in popular opinion.


There is room for general discussion here too.

(edit) but the claim is - there is a co-ordinated movement to promote Russian establishment views.
Click to expand...
There's a CLAIM, but where's the claim of evidence that's being debunked?
 
Let's look a the actual evidence here.
https://mega.co.nz/#!X5gSBBBZ!W9Iw2Q_sdkxBbFKR-yhnykQd8V4RQ9tcPt5Gdt128HA
It's a 137MB file containing emails in Russian. I downloaded it, looked at the first one, an it says:

External Quote:


Отчетпотвиттеру15-21апреля

Создано9 аккаунтов, изних2 основныхтематических(ЖопаиДухжирафаМариуса.

Всегоразмещено305 твиттов(примерно40 твитоввдень)

Ежедневнопроводитсяработапофолловингутематическихаккаунтов, атакжеразмещениетвиитовпопопулярнымхештегам. Работасхештегамиприводиткдобавлениютвитоввизбранноеу разныхаккаунтовновостныхагентств, атакжеобычныхпользователей. Проводитсяработаствитами, содержащимидезинформацию(провводроссийкихвойскнатерриториюУкраины)

Осуществлялсяежедневныйподборкартинокидемотиваторов, которыевдальнейшемиспользуютсядляполученияреакцииотаудитории.

Уровеньцензурывтвиттереминимальный, позволяетразмещатьконтентжесткогосодержания.

Работаввыходныепоказала, чтонанихтвиитероживаетнеранее17-18 часовпомоскве


External Quote:

Report on twitter April 15-21
Created 9 accounts of these two major thematic ( Ass and Spirit giraffe Marius .
Taken just 305 tweets ( about 40 tweets per day)
Held daily work follovingu thematic accounts , as well as accommodation for tviitov popular hashtags . Working with the hashtag leads to adding to favorites tweets from different accounts of news agencies , as well as ordinary users. Work with tweets containing misinformation ( about entering rossiykih troops on the territory of Ukraine )
Exercise daily selection of pictures and demotivators , which are then used to obtain reaction from the audience.
Level of censorship on twitter minimum , allows you to place content hard content.
Work at the weekend showed that they did not previously tviiter revives 17-18 hours in Moscow
Which seems consistent with the claims.

So is it real? How can we tell?
 
Mick West said:
Let's look a the actual evidence here.
https://mega.co.nz/#!X5gSBBBZ!W9Iw2Q_sdkxBbFKR-yhnykQd8V4RQ9tcPt5Gdt128HA
It's a 137MB file containing emails in Russian. I downloaded it, looked at the first one, an it says:

External Quote:


Отчетпотвиттеру15-21апреля

Создано9 аккаунтов, изних2 основныхтематических(ЖопаиДухжирафаМариуса.

Всегоразмещено305 твиттов(примерно40 твитоввдень)

Ежедневнопроводитсяработапофолловингутематическихаккаунтов, атакжеразмещениетвиитовпопопулярнымхештегам. Работасхештегамиприводиткдобавлениютвитоввизбранноеу разныхаккаунтовновостныхагентств, атакжеобычныхпользователей. Проводитсяработаствитами, содержащимидезинформацию(провводроссийкихвойскнатерриториюУкраины)

Осуществлялсяежедневныйподборкартинокидемотиваторов, которыевдальнейшемиспользуютсядляполученияреакцииотаудитории.

Уровеньцензурывтвиттереминимальный, позволяетразмещатьконтентжесткогосодержания.

Работаввыходныепоказала, чтонанихтвиитероживаетнеранее17-18 часовпомоскве


External Quote:

Report on twitter April 15-21
Created 9 accounts of these two major thematic ( Ass and Spirit giraffe Marius .
Taken just 305 tweets ( about 40 tweets per day)
Held daily work follovingu thematic accounts , as well as accommodation for tviitov popular hashtags . Working with the hashtag leads to adding to favorites tweets from different accounts of news agencies , as well as ordinary users. Work with tweets containing misinformation ( about entering rossiykih troops on the territory of Ukraine )
Exercise daily selection of pictures and demotivators , which are then used to obtain reaction from the audience.
Level of censorship on twitter minimum , allows you to place content hard content.
Work at the weekend showed that they did not previously tviiter revives 17-18 hours in Moscow
Which seems consistent with the claims.

So is it real? How can we tell?
Click to expand...
Emails obtained by some Russian hacker? Is that really what we have to go off of?

So if I get some email from some US hacker talking about Sandy Hook being a false flag, I'm supposed to believe it?

Why believe this?
 
#2
friday_.docx_20140603_220144_20140603_220148.jpg
 
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