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Shaun Walker writes at The Guardian that that more and more posts and commentaries on the internet are generated by professional trolls in Russia who receive a salary for perpetuating a pro-Kremlin dialogue online. 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 with hundreds of people working there in grinding, 12-hour shifts in exchange for 40,000 rubles ($700) a month.
According to Walker the work environment is humorless and draconian, with fines for being a few minutes late or not reaching the required number of posts each day. Trolls worked in rooms of about 20 people, each controlled by three editors, who would check posts and impose fines if they found the words had been cut and pasted, or were ideologically deviant. "There are production quotas, and for meeting your quota you get 45,000," says Marat Burkhard, who spent two months working at the troll factory. "The quota is 135 comments per 12-hour shift." Burkhart says that every city and village in Russia has its own municipal website with its own comments forum and the task of workers at the troll factory is to comment on each site. Burkhard explains how the professional trolls work in teams of three:
One of us would be the "villain," the person who disagrees with the forum and criticizes the authorities, in order to bring a feeling of authenticity to what we're doing. The other two enter into a debate with him -- "No, you're not right; everything here is totally correct." One of them should provide some kind of graphic or image that fits in the context, and the other has to post a link to some content that supports his argument. You see? Villain, picture, link.
We covered a similar story from BBC in March.
(Score: 1) by No Respect on Monday April 06 2015, @01:38AM
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @01:46AM
That's why I get all my news from pol on infinity chan!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Monday April 06 2015, @02:06AM
zerohedge ????
Best I can tell that is a one man posting storm.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 06 2015, @02:14AM
Zerohedge, Infowars, other sites. And for good reason, because war is batshit insane and not good for anybody now. Russian propaganda or not, Russia is on the defensive now and is striking the balance between trying not to look weak while trying to stop those beating war-drums.
We should march our own pro-war legislators in front of fucking tanks.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday April 06 2015, @04:24AM
What are you talking about?
They are not beating the drums anymore because they won. They achieved what they wanted while the world was pontificating and/or asleep as per usual.
Now its just managing the fallout.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @07:02AM
Ha...you guys from 55 Savushkina Street are so obvious. Typical Russian propagandist, totally clueless.
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Monday April 06 2015, @10:52AM
That's not right; Comrade Big-In-The-Pants is totally correct and here's a picture of drums being beaten [dreamstime.com] to prove it. Now, I must return to my game of Cluedo - I am certain I shall win a glorious victory by accusing The Yellow American Running-Dog Army Colonel in The Propaganda Room with The Unreliable Capitalist Cowboy Gun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @02:59AM
Wow. I clicked on the comments only because I was going to post something about ZH. And look, first one up.
The news stories were always a bit biased in a way that I chalked up to Russian support for nationalism resonating with the site runners in much the same way that it does with UKIP, FN, Jobbik, and the rest of the anti-EU/anti-Obama crowd; but son of a gun the comments on ZH went straight to troll-plaid ludicrous speed once the Ukrainian shit hit the fan. They must have their own division within the Russian troll factory, dedicated just to trolling the comments on ZeroHedge.
For a while ZeroHedge was a GREAT place to get scoops on anything. I'd read it on ZH, mail a toned down version to friends, they'd see it on the news the next day and wonder where the hell I was getting all my info, because it was always early and right. There was no better source anywhere on the Cypriot banking crisis. Now, I don't even bother reading except for the morning front-running headline roundup. It's just a burned-out shell of a news site, overrun by trolls, with no stories except three-year-old rehashes of "Obama is going to ban guns, gold, and puppies: buy bitcoin."
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 06 2015, @12:24PM
Perhaps the men in black paid a visit? Can't have informed public you know..