Russian trolls, posing as Americans, continue their work...
In an ongoing campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions, according to a trove of internal Kremlin documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.
One of the political strategists, for instance, instructed a troll farm employee working for his firm to write a comment of “no more than 200 characters in the name of a resident of a suburb of a major city.” The strategist suggested that this fictitious American “doesn’t support the military aid that the U.S. is giving Ukraine and considers that the money should be spent defending America’s borders and not Ukraine’s. He sees that Biden’s policies are leading the U.S. toward collapse.”
The documents — numbering more than 100 and dating between May 2022 and August 2023 — were provided to The Post to expose Kremlin propaganda operations aimed at undermining support for Ukraine in the United States, as well as their scale and methods
Of course the Washington Post has paywalls, so I bypassed 'em. But yeah, there are a lot of troll farms there nowadays, so it is best to read the news, and verify stuff from multiple sources. Wouldn't it be nice if troll farms could be shut down? Also, I am betting that in the future, troll farms would use AI. Man, Putin needs to stop. I know a few Russians, and both of them left Russia cos the politicians there are crazy and the country is not wealthy.
Here is a summary of the
article, for those who dislike paywalls:
The article by Catherine Belton and Joseph Menn, published on April 8, 2024, in The Washington Post, exposes the Kremlin's propaganda operations aimed at undermining support for Ukraine in the United States. The authors obtained a trove of internal Kremlin documents that provide insights into Moscow's efforts to influence political debates and stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment.
According to the report, when President Biden proposed an additional $24 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine in August 2023, Kremlin spin doctors were ready to undermine public support for the bill. They had been working on a campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates, writing thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts, and comments.
The documents show that one strategist instructed a troll farm employee to write a comment from a fictitious American resident opposing military aid to Ukraine and expressing concerns about America's border security and economic situation. The strategist also suggested that Biden's policies are leading the U.S. toward collapse.
The documents number over 100 and date between May 2022 and August 2023. They were provided to The Post to expose Kremlin propaganda operations in the United States, France, Germany, and Ukraine. Russia has been ramping up its propaganda efforts as part of a second front against Ukraine, especially since congressional approval for further aid is critical for Kyiv's ability to defend itself.
The campaign has attempted to paint Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as corrupt, emphasized the numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, called for border security to be funded over any aid to Ukraine, and described "white Americans" as the principal losers due to foreign aid. The strategy also promotes views from the far-right wing of the Republican Party and calls for some messaging to be voiced by American "public opinion leaders and politicians."
The documents contain metadata showing they were written by members of a team working for Ilya Gambashidze, head of the Moscow PR firm Social Design Agency. The United States imposed sanctions on Gambashidze last month for his involvement in "a persistent foreign malign influence campaign" at the Kremlin's direction.
The Kremlin's efforts to interfere in the U.S. political system first became evident during the 2016 presidential elections when Russia deployed a network of trolls to spread disinformation and hacked material from the Clinton campaign. Since then, social media platforms have sought to tighten scrutiny of hostile state actors, but disinformation campaigns still proliferate.
Propaganda operatives use techniques like short-lived social media accounts, writing with invisible ink, and redirecting viewers through a series of seemingly random websites until they arrive at a deceptive article. They also push content every single day to ensure its availability over time.
The Kremlin turned in earnest to undermining American support for Ukraine in January 2023, and the strategists were ordered to create media content that promoted corruption allegations involving Ukrainian leadership and stoked racial and social discord in the United States. They closely monitored opinion polling and conducted internet polls through online advertising and social media networks to measure success.
Fake news articles alleging Zelensky's corruption pushed out by Russian-linked websites during the congressional debates on assistance for Ukraine in the fall have resonated, particularly a fake story published by DC Weekly that went viral and was picked up by far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
