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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA former Russian troll speaks: 'It was like being in Orwell's world'
By Anton Troianovski February 17 at 7:10 PM
The indictment by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III of 13 Russians associated with a St. Petersburg online troll factory that allegedly interfered with the U.S. election has brought a sense of vindication to the handful of former employees who have already been speaking out about what they witnessed.
One of them, 43-year-old Marat Mindiyarov, a teacher by training, spoke by phone with The Washington Post on Saturday from the village outside St. Petersburg where he lives. Mindiyarov worked in a department for Russian domestic consumption. When he took a test in December 2014 to move to the factorys Facebook department targeting the U.S. market, Mindiyarov recalled, he was asked to write an essay about Hillary Clinton. Here are lightly edited excerpts of the conversation.
What was your first reaction when you heard about the Mueller indictment?
I congratulate America that they achieved something that they put forward an indictment rather than just writing about this. I congratulate Robert Mueller.
How did you end up at the troll factory?
I worked there from November 2014 to February 2015. I ended up there totally by accident I happened to be unemployed, and this place had work right by my house. So I went there. I realized quickly that this was the kind of place where I only wanted to spend enough time until I got my salary and I could leave.
How did it feel inside?
I arrived there, and I immediately felt like a character in the book 1984 by George Orwell a place where you have to write that white is black and black is white. Your first feeling, when you ended up there, was that you were in some kind of factory that turned lying, telling untruths, into an industrial assembly line. The volumes were colossal there were huge numbers of people, 300 to 400, and they were all writing absolute untruths. It was like being in Orwells world.
What sorts of untruths did you write?
My untruths amounted to posting comments. I worked in the commenting department I had to comment on the news. No one asked me my opinion. My opinions were already written for me, and I had to write in my own words that which I was ordered to write.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/17/a-former-russian-troll-speaks-it-was-like-being-in-orwells-world/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_troll-interview-945am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.7391c950a0ec
dalton99a
(81,590 posts)JDC
(10,133 posts)White is black and black is white....
How many of us have exclaimed this exact phrase over the last few years?
We are the victims of our own obsession with social media. Manipulated from afar and so many refuse to see or believe it.
Thx for the post.
Demit
(11,238 posts)Hopefully we're learning. Although I still have Facebook friends who fall for bogus stories. People really have to work on their bullshit detectors. Stories like this will help.
OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)Another Professional Russian Troll, also named Marat, who worked for Internet Research Agency named in yesterdays Indictment news
tells how the troll formula works.
Reported by Radio Free Europe in 2015, link at end of this article.
Also in 2015, Dutch intelligence alerted US FBI to Russian "Cozy Bear" hacking of Democratic National Committee during Hillary Clinton campaign
https://www.metro.us/news/the-big-stories/danish-spies-shared-intel-russian-cozy-bear
HERE IS HOW THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY TROLL FACTORY WORKS
TRIPLE TEAM TROLL FORMULA: The former Russian troll spells out exactly how the trolls worked in tandem to sway public opinion.
Someone in another Internet Research department
...."would write something on the forum -- some kind of news -- and our task was to comment on it.
We did it by dividing into 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"
Troll recipe:
1. Propaganada Department posts propaganda article that will be posted on selected public forums.
2. 3 Member Troll team goes to each listed forum site and works the Formula:
2.a. troll number one attack writer;
2.b. troll number two support writer and include supporting picture/graphic; and
2.c. troll number 3 also support propaganda with a link to a supporting propaganda article.
Very interesting read, written way back in 2015!
https://www.rferl.org/a/how-to-guide-russian-trolling-trolls/26919999.html
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)There was no way to look at it and believe these assholes would have spent any time and resources on it just for kicks.
OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)has to be really really old. Those "card sorters" date back to the early 1970s before magnetic media was invented. I think the pic was used to display an Orwellian-like work place. Very possibly from within USSR but decades ago.
What IS interesting, for any who actually read stuff is that the article is an
EXPOSE' of HOW the paid trolls worked in teams to hoodwink unwitting Americans and Europeans.
We would do well to have many such teams working the NET to offset their propaganda, imo
And WE KNEW ABOUT THE RUSSIAN TROLL FACTORY in 2015.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)And post it instantly. Those things used to actually take skill, it was not such an easy thing when Obama ran. Now any idiot can do it- and they do.
I think the problem is no one thought actual voters would take this shit seriously. It Trump seriously. And the media went along for laughs, and now that they have this result... I dont know, it seems like theyre all drunk off he influence. I was really disappointed in Chris Hayes yesterday trying to downplay the seriousness of what they achieved. Hes still got the were going to war w Russia meme stuck in his head.... to the extent that hes not thinking clearly- or even wanting to act angry about it. Its bizarre.
OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)The pic thing still takes a little bit of skill, especially since DU logs me out if I opeb another screen to retrieve a pic from my stash.
It is easier than 10 years ago, I agree.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Photoshop which cost hundreds of dollars and was super complicated. Its weird they caught on so much.
But I think it was part of making it look like there was so much support there - and hatred- that it would cover for skewed vote totals and successful voter suppression efforts.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,110 posts)is NOTHING to be done for it. I can't find the direct quote, but I think it was Dan Coats that said there is nothing that can be done to stop their interference with the 2018 mid-terms.
GusBob
(7,286 posts)I don't know about the perfect English part. The posts I have seen were awkward and stilted in their style. They made grammar mistakes that even freepers don't make
Speaking of which, Americans expect poor grammar and misspellings from the deplorables, it's a trademark "morans"
Edit typo lol
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Hannity et al.
Pluvious
(4,319 posts)... These shitheads target THEIR OWN COUNTRY !!
poboy2
(2,078 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)They hated that the Arab Spring was precipitated by Obama's speech in Egypt (and the self-immolation in Tunisia). They hated that if the Arab countries had a revolution it would be pro-US in the end. I was inundated for an entire year by propagandists and their useful idiots who would perpetuate their swill. It was an eye opening experience.