The BBC reports:
The Internet Research Agency ("Agentstvo Internet Issledovaniya") employs at least 400 people and occupies an unremarkable office in one of the residential areas in St Petersburg.
Behind the plain facade, however, there is a Kremlin "troll den", an investigative report by independent local newspaper Moy Rayon ("My District") suggests. [article in Russian]
The organisation, which the paper ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a restaurateur with close links to President Vladimir Putin who allegedly pays bloggers to produce hundreds of comments on top news websites and manage multiple accounts on Twitter, LiveJournal and other social media platforms.
Related Stories
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: 5, Funny) by Mr Big in the Pants on Saturday March 21 2015, @01:59AM
What a complete and utter nonsense!
Putin is hero of Russia and champion of people with bear-like strength while Mr Prigozhin is a highly intelligent, respected and savvy businessman as well as being incredibly sexy for the ladies and hung like horse.
Rumors he pays people to say nice things about him are complete rubbish and should be fed radioactive toxins immediately!
Also: Russia's actions and statements about peace making actions in Ukraine are all 100% true and above board.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Balderdash on Saturday March 21 2015, @02:30AM
Your views of comrade Putin are very insightful and informative.
He is a great and wise bear who knows no equal.
I browse at -1. Free and open discourse requires consideration and review of all attempts at participation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @02:34AM
Lies! Everyone know Obama is biggest in the pants. Bama have the rhythm and agility of 27 hip-hop singing basketball players.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday March 21 2015, @02:15PM
Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media [theguardian.com]
Military's 'sock puppet' software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda
The US military [theguardian.com] is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.
The project has been likened by web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet. Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives.
The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.
The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".
Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: "The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US."
He said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" with such technology, and any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.
Centcom said it was not targeting any US-based web sites, in English or any other language, and specifically said it was not targeting Facebook or Twitter.
Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated messages, blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions. Details of the contract suggest this location would be MacDill air force base near Tampa, Florida, home of US Special Operations Command.
Centcom's contract requires for each controller the provision of one "virtual private server" located in the United States [googleusercontent.com] and others appearing to be outside the US to give the impression the fake personas are real people located in different parts of the world.
It also calls for "traffic mixing", blending the persona controllers' internet usage with the usage of people outside Centcom in a manner that must offer "excellent cover and powerful deniability".
The multiple persona contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a programme called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of al-Qaida supporters and others ranged against coalition forces. Since then, OEV is reported to have expanded into a $200m programme and is thought to have been used against jihadists across Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
OEV is seen by senior US commanders as a vital counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation programme. In evidence to the US Senate's armed services committee last year, General David Petraeus, then commander of Centcom, described the operation as an effort to "counter extremist ideology and propaganda [senate.gov]and to ensure that credible voices in the region are heard". He said the US military's objective was to be "first with the truth".
This month Petraeus's successor, General James Mattis, told the same committee that OEV "supports all activities associated with degrading the enemy narrative, including web engagement [senate.gov] and web-based product distribution capabilities".
Centcom confirmed that the $2.76m contract was awarded to Ntrepid, a newly formed corporation registered in Los Angeles. It would not disclose whether the multiple persona project is already in operation or discuss any related contracts.
Nobody was available for comment at Ntrepid.
In his evidence to the Senate committee, Gen Mattis said: "OEV seeks to disrupt recruitment and training of suicide bombers; deny safe havens for our adversaries; and counter extremist ideology and propaganda." He added that Centcom was working with "our coalition partners" to develop new techniques and tactics the US could use "to counter the adversary in the cyber domain".
According to a report by the inspector general of the US defence department in Iraq, OEV was managed by the multinational forces [dodig.mil] rather than Centcom.
Asked whether any UK military personnel had been involved in OEV, Britain's Ministry of Defence said it could find "no evidence". The MoD refused to say whether it had been involved in the development of persona management programmes, saying: "We don't comment on cyber capability."
OEV was discussed last year at a gathering of electronic warfare specialists in Washington DC [crows.org], where a senior Centcom officer told delegates that its purpose was to "communicate critical messages and to counter the propaganda of our adversaries".
Persona management by the US military would face legal challenges if it were turned against citizens of the US, where a number of people engaged in sock puppetry have faced prosecution.
Last year a New York lawyer who impersonated a scholar was sentenced to jail after being convicted of "criminal impersonation" and identity theft [nytimes.com].
It is unclear whether a persona management programme would contravene UK law. Legal experts say it could fall foul of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, which states that "a person is guilty of forgery if he makes a false instrument, with the intention that he or another shall use it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person's prejudice". However, this would apply only if a website or social network could be shown to have suffered "prejudice" as a result.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday March 21 2015, @03:01AM
Well, I was going to ask whether any hear had seen post jumping to Putin/Russian defenses on SoylentNews, but I suspect the question wouldn't be taken seriously after this thread.
Still, I recall Someone posting under the name of Dunbal, fiercely defending the Ukraine rebels...
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @03:11AM
Thank you, comrade! The name of Dunbal shall be erased from history. Because the very best way to fight propaganda is with censorship!
(Score: 1) by Mr Big in the Pants on Saturday March 21 2015, @03:56AM
...don't forget guns.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday March 21 2015, @06:42AM
I'm certainly on “Russia's side” (and even more on Novorussia's side) although I don't get any pay for it (nor do I want any in case the BBC isn't just making stuff up as usual).
You probably should [wikipedia.org] be too, that's the insignia [wikipedia.org] of the core US “allies” (using one symbol wasn't enough; they had to go double nazi :P). Of course they're not actually US allies: the US has none.
If the nazis weren't enough you have a US that is 100% un-American, a NATO that stopped being a defensive pact at some late point in the last century, a fascist EU (only MEPs are elected and they don't have any real say), and “elite” European politicians busy killing off their own nations/cultures/identities when they're not busy with the US good cop (we'll get those terrorists) bad cop (but only if you accept our surveillance) bullshit.
During the last year they've all managed to undo a quarter of a century of improving relations between Europe and Russia and none of it is Russia's fault. Yes it really is that long ago since the Cold War ended and this time “we” are the bad guys, there's no doubt about it.
The US keeps pushing for war in exactly the same way Saddam Hussein kept playing “suicide chicken” and at some point they might trip and get it, the Russians are loud and clear: if this is what you want you will get it. They're ready and the latest nationwide (they're the biggest country on Earth in case people don't know it) Russian drill involving the entire Russian military is just yet another clear warning. I fully expect the US to lose such a war and that the loss will happen on the US continent. With “luck” (i.e. if I'm reading the tea-leaves right, which I may not be) there might not be all that many percentages of civilians dead and it might even be over before anyone understands what happened. A few times I've almost posted a journal entry on the way I read things but decided against it as it won't do any good (de facto US declaration of war on Syria aka “leave our aerial assets alone”, likely Russian use of non-nuclear tactical (not strategic) EMP weapons in southern Russia during recent military drills or deliberately making it look that way, etc.).
Silver lining? Dying of electromagnetic anti-immunological weapons (if those are still in play, they were in the 80ies, if they're not it's going to be nukes, nukes, and nukes) should be much faster than dying of radiation sickness :|
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 4, Informative) by pkrasimirov on Saturday March 21 2015, @06:56AM
If you don't get any pay then perhaps you should read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday March 21 2015, @07:01AM
I used that term in the eighties against Marxist-Leninists so I'm quite familiar with it thank you.
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday March 21 2015, @06:57AM
I'll point out my own mistake: “US continent” was me mixing up “American continent” and “US continental states” into one thing. Hopefully people got what I meant anyway.
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 1) by Refugee from beyond on Saturday March 21 2015, @08:00AM
Which our side are you referring to, government or people? :}
Instantly better soylentnews: replace background on article and comment titles with #973131.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2015, @02:59AM
What the hell is an "electromagnetic anti-immunological weapon"? Does anyone know what the Yogi is yammering about here? I work for DoD and I have never heard of such a thing.
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Sunday March 22 2015, @03:29PM
It would be a kind of DEW [wikipedia.org], I wasn't familiar with that name/acronym. If one compares (across time) the then Soviet system to the current US ADS it was implied it had a (far) longer range and instead of non-lethal discomfort/pain it was supposed to kill fairly fast by destroying the immune system. I don't think it was microwave. It didn't have a name or acronym, there wasn't much information about it. Also it was not at all precise if I remember correctly and would target a fairly wide angle (which really sounds radar-like but again I don't think it was identified or named as such). This was all from public although quite obscure US sources of information (I can't remember which, sorry) so if you work where you say you do then if you rattle around enough you might either get a small stack of moldy old magazines delivered to your desk by a very angry librarian and/or stuff I never had access to. A quick internet search only threw up nonsense.
Your other post showed you don't know about Rapid Trident [stripes.com] (and there's more). I used a ‘Stars and Stripes’ source just for you :) Is 1300 US and NATO Troops with full equipment including tanks and armored vehicles enough for you? Probably not, especially since it was an exercise :P There's no hiding such numbers which is why all the US talk about Russian military forces in Ukraine is a mountain of shit higher than the White House (and then they insult everyone by handing out faked photos or satellite images with worse quality than a 1960ies Corona [wikipedia.org] shot; and some people still believe them!).
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2015, @04:34AM
Idiots abound here. You can go rant about all the pimples and warts about the US, but that somehow justifies the rusky thugs? Fucktard.
(Score: 1) by Mr Big in the Pants on Sunday March 22 2015, @07:14PM
If your argument is "the other side is bad so the other side must be ok" then you are hopelessly dazed and confused.
Nobody but compete and utter idiots (e.g zealous "patriots", toadies, PR people and government workers) would think that either China, USA or Russia was a force for good in the world. Europe could be argued and SEEMS to get more benevolent and forward thinking all the time on the surface although I don't live there so dare not comment further.
Arguing about which one is more or less "evil" or "good" is just a waste of everybody's time and will achieve nothing.
More specifically it will never prove your point.
I resort to just making fun of it all as in my original post because fuck me if human society isn't the most ridiculous source of comedy ever created.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @04:07AM
You are Jeremiah Cornelius and I claim my $10.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday March 21 2015, @02:09PM
Sorry wrong again.
I'd take your tenner, but too much bother to try and spend at the local Tabac.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gravis on Saturday March 21 2015, @03:35AM
without a doubt this is a brilliant use of psyops, it's just too bad that it's completely repugnant too. how easy it is to subvert so many sources of information with so few people is really just an unbelievable return on investment, so props for that. however, they are causing a massive net harm to society, so after the props, drag them through the streets. it's great that someone uncovered this but it's unfortunate that they are likely going to pay dearly for doing the right thing. see, russians and americans do have something in common! :)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @03:48AM
I'll just leave this here. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @08:33AM
I think a lot of companies do this as well.
The link you provided was a poor example though. It's a grassroots organization and although it takes direct actions it also:
"We believe in direct action both to eradicate the problems we face online and to create the publicity that will cause those with companies like Facebook and Google to take the needed action themselves."
As opposed to the misinformation I've seen from a lot of Russians that I can only assume belonged to the article's group.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday March 21 2015, @04:10AM
I've been finding lots of Russian propaganda articles posted at Hacker News lately.
The other day I read a report of Putin putting Russia's nuclear forces on alert during the annexation of Crimea. The article discussed this nuclear alert as if it was a good thing.
I personally am quite concerned that a nuclear war might break out soon. I have a friend who served in the US Army, whose job it was to drive a jeep with a backpack nuke. That bomb was meant to drop a bridge over a big river in the event the Soviets invaded. If we're using nuclear weapons to take out bridges, consider how a nuclear war might escalate.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday March 21 2015, @07:22AM
I'm concerned as well but I don't think there's much one can do either way (which is why I haven't written much about this stuff). From my perspective there ought to still be a lot of people in the US military intelligence apparatus that should be aware of what is happening. They might be old but hopefully they're not all retired. I'm talking about the kind of people who know what ‘Problems of Communism’ was (and isn't now).
By the way it won't be much of an escalation, more like “1, … go!”. The Russian “Doomsday trigger” (multiple rockets transmitting codes activating automatic launch of all strategic nuclear weapons) is operational. I wasn't aware it was ever turned off but it most certainly is on now according to multiple sources over a week ago or so. In my opinion the Russians are justifiably pissed off at being played for fools, if anything Putin has been holding them back for slightly over a year!
And if the US analysts have all been replaced with complete idiots then what good will anything do anyway? Better to use one's life as good as one can be it for a few days or decades (and it really ought to be decades).
When I try to buy (ordinary) food that lasts it might not be for me but for making some scavenger very happy in the future, I'm fine with that, maybe he or she will take some of the books too :) (if nothing else they burn good).
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Refugee from beyond on Saturday March 21 2015, @08:04AM
Actually, people are being played for fools by Putin for quite some time now, since he should not be able to be a president according that Constitution thing. They patched it when nobody was looking, though.
Instantly better soylentnews: replace background on article and comment titles with #973131.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @10:44AM
And here we see one of the trolls. Good job yogi. Excellent demonstration. There is no reason for Russia to do what it's been doing. Attacking Ukraine just because their puppet was overthrown is not justified. Taking over Krim is nothing, but a hostile take over. Ruskies, that want to live in Russia, should move to Russia. Krim is part of Ukraine.
The Ruskies have no right to constantly fly over other countries borders. They have no right to fly dark and cause danger to civil aviation. But the single most fucked up thing Ruskies are doing is playing with the nukes. No one else has been playing with them and imagining someone will invade Russia. No one is going to invade Russia, there has never been any discussion about that by anyone else other than Ruskies. For fucks sake, how fucking paranoid can Ruskies be?
They are all bullshit talk, lieing all the time what others have said and done. It's unbelievable shit they produce all the time. I say, nato should bring shit loads of troops to Ukraine, and then just deny them being there, just like Ruskies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2015, @11:13AM
You mean like attacking Irak was not justified, or attacking Libya was not justified, or attacking Syria was not justified, or attacking Palestine was not justified? Some countries seem to get a lot more leeway than others regarding aggressions to other countries.
As for dark flights, you should research a bit about those CIA flights, for example.
You may be rightfully incensed about Russia's activities, but it's not like they happen in a vacuum.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday March 21 2015, @05:41PM
...that this article turned out to be about internet trolls...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2015, @10:28PM
I am disappointed...
...that this article turned out to be about internet trolls...
Then the movie Trollhunter [imdb.com] is for you. Not quite Russia, but they do share a border.
Also, I modded you down for being anti-social - putting the first line of your post in the title is reader unfriendly. If you must to do that, at least dupe it. It interrupts the flow of reading your post and it makes quoting it a PITA.
(Score: 1) by Yog-Yogguth on Sunday March 22 2015, @11:34AM
...that people mod other people down like that.
Reusable titles are reusable :D
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Sunday March 22 2015, @02:58AM
So... Let me get this straight: Some guy (with or without ties to the president) in St. Petersburg, pays a bunch of people to manipulate opinion on the internet and now it's the Kremlin's (this usually refers to the one in Moscow, St. Petersburg has a few fortresses, but no kremlins) troll army? Right.