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Troll farm

May 06, 2023

A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision-making.[1]

One study showed that 30 governments worldwide (out of 65 covered by the study) paid keyboard armies to spread propaganda and attack critics.[2] According to the report, these governments use paid commentators, trolls, and bots to harass journalists and erode trust in the media. Attempts were made to influence elections in 18 of the countries covered by the study.[2]

Albania

In February 2020, the New York Times interviewed 10 ex-People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) members who said that the MEK's Albania camp had a troll farm that promoted the opinions of MEK supporters, including Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton, and attacked the Iranian government. The MEK claimed that the former members were Iranian government spies.[3]

In the March 2021 CIB (Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior) report, Facebook announced that it removed hundreds of accounts, pages and groups in both Facebook and Instagram which were in a troll farm in Albania, operated by MEK.[4]

Brazil

It has been widely suspected that Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro and his family created troll farms to promote support for his government policies and to attack and harass rivals through the internet. These fake accounts and bots are possibly controlled by an office inside one of Bolsonaro's government buildings led by Jair's son Carlos known as 'office of hate',[5] which is suspected to have created more than a thousand fake accounts to support Bolsonaro's government.[6]

Troll accounts have also been linked to misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, as Bolsonaro's government is known for having adopted a denialist and weak posture regarding the pandemic.[7]

India

India's ruling party BJP has a large number of online supporters who support its agenda and attack political rivals. Their methods were recorded by investigative journalist Swati Chaturvedi who described them as "digital army" in her book the subject, "I Am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army".[8]

China

See also: 50 Cent Party

"50 Cent Party" is a term used for online users who have been hired by the authorities of the People's Republic of China to manipulate public opinion and disseminate disinformation to the benefit of the governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Finland

Finnish investigative journalist Jessikka Aro interviewed workers at a “troll factory” in Saint Petersburg. Aro was harassed online after she published her story.[9] A court in Helsinki convicted three persons who had harassed Aro on charges of defamation and negligence.[10]

Aro has stated that online trolls can negatively affect freedom of speech and democracy.[11]

North Macedonia

At the town of Veles, locals launched at least 140 United States political websites supporting Donald Trump.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook found that troll farms from North Macedonia and the Philippines pushed coronavirus disinformation. The publisher, which used content from these farms, was banned.[18]

Malaysia

In 2022, Meta Platforms announced that it has removed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts that were directly linked with the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), as they were used as part of a troll farm to disseminate propaganda and manipulate public discourse about the Malaysian police and the government.[19] Meta added that such actions were against its policy of "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".[20]

Philippines

See also: Fake news in the Philippines

The Philippines has been called "patient zero in the global disinformation epidemic."[21] Studies into the country's troll farms found that political campaigns pay trolls $1,000 to $2,000 per month to create multiple fake social media accounts to post political propaganda and attack critics.[21][22] The political campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte has spent $200,000 to hire online trolls, according to one study.[23] Duterte admitted to hiring trolls for his 2016 political campaign.[24][25]

Since then, trolling behaviour supportive of Duterte has been traced back to taxpayer-funded government institutions.[26]

Russia

See also: Russian web brigades
 
The Internet Research Agency building, dubbed the Russian troll factory, is seen at Savushkina Street in St. Petersburg, Russia. The building is now for rent.

The Russian web brigades, including Internet Research Agency, became known in the late 2010s for the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[1] The Internet Research Agency has employed troll armies to spread propaganda, command Twitter trends, and sow fear and erode trust in American political and media institutions.[27]

Turkey

See also: AK Trolls

The ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey has a troll farm commonly known as AK Trolls.[28][29]

Nicaragua

In November 2021, Facebook reported that it closed accounts, groups and pages in Facebook and Instagram linked to a troll farm operated by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the ruling party in Nicaragua.[30]

United States

During the 2020 United States presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic, Turning Point USA and its affiliate Turning Point Action were described as troll farms for paying young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona, some of them minors with parental support, to post misinformation about the integrity of the electoral process and the threat of COVID-19. The payout included bonuses for posts that generated greater engagement. They used their own social media accounts or fake accounts without disclosing their relationship with Turning Point and were instructed by Turning Point to slightly alter and repost the modified messages a limited number of times to avoid automatic detection.[31][32]

Since the early 2020s, American conservatives have accused the website TikTok of spying on its users in cooperation with the Chinese government. These accusations and conspiracy theories were reportedly created in part by Republican consulting firms such as Targeted Victory as well as Facebook parent Meta.[33]

Vietnam

See also: Public opinion brigades

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Russian troll factory paid US activists to help fund protests during election - World news - The Guardian". TheGuardian.com. 26 November 2017. from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b Titcomb, James (2017-11-14). "Governments in 30 countries are paying 'keyboard armies' to spread propaganda, report says". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  3. ^ Kingsley, Patrick (2020-02-16). "Highly Secretive Iranian Rebels Are Holed Up in Albania. They Gave Us a Tour". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  4. ^ Facebook March 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report
  5. ^ Rosati, Andrew; Lima, Mario (22 June 2020). . Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  6. ^ Freitas, Carolina (3 April 2021). [55% of pro-Bolsonaro publications are made by robots]. Globo (in Portuguese). Valor Econômico. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  7. ^ Mello, Patrícia (4 August 2020). . The New York Times (Opinion piece). São Paulo. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  8. ^ Sanghvi, Vir (29 December 2016). "I am a troll: Inside the secret world of BJP's digital army". Business Standard India.
  9. ^ Schultz, Teri (October 17, 2018). "Pro-Kremlin online harassment on trial in Finland". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  10. ^ Staudenmaier, Rebecca (October 18, 2018). "Court in Finland finds pro-Kremlin trolls guilty of harassing journalist". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  11. ^ Miller, Nick (2016-03-11). "Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro's inquiry into Russian trolls stirs up a hornet's nest". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  12. ^ "How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News". BuzzFeed News.
  13. ^ Tynan, Dan (August 24, 2016). "How Facebook powers money machines for obscure political 'news' sites". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  14. ^ Remnick, David (18 November 2016). "Obama Reckons with a Trump Presidency". The New Yorker.
  15. ^ Subramanian, Samanth (February 15, 2017). "Meet the Macedonian Teens Who Mastered Fake News and Corrupted the US Election". Wired – via www.wired.com.
  16. ^ Kirby, Emma Jane (December 5, 2016). "The city getting rich from fake news". BBC News.
  17. ^ Byrne, Andrew (16 December 2016). "Macedonia's fake news industry sets sights on Europe". Financial Times.
  18. ^ Collins, Ben; Zadrozny, Brandy (May 20, 2020). "Troll farms from North Macedonia and the Philippines pushed coronavirus disinformation on Facebook". NBC News.
  19. ^ Babulal, Veena (5 August 2022). "Meta removes Malaysian 'troll farm' Facebook, Instagram accounts, some with links to police". nst.com.my. New Straits Times. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  20. ^ H. Rodzi, Nadirah (5 August 2022). "Malaysian police allegedly linked to 'troll farm' on Facebook, Instagram". www.straitstimes.com. The Straits Times. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  21. ^ a b Bengali, Shashank; Halper, Evan (2019-11-19). "Troll armies, a growth industry in the Philippines, may soon be coming to an election near you". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  22. ^ Williams, Sean (2017-01-04). "Rodrigo Duterte's Army of Online Trolls". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  23. ^ Matsuzawa, Mikas (July 24, 2017). "Duterte camp spent $200,000 for troll army, Oxford study finds". Philstar. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  24. ^ Mongaya, Karlo Mikhail (2017-08-09). "Philippines' 'troll-in-chief'? Duterte admits hiring defenders during polls". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  25. ^ Ranada, Pia. "Duterte says online defenders, trolls hired only during campaign". Rappler. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  26. ^ Lalu, Gabriel Pabico (September 29, 2020). "Duterte tells Facebook: Why keep operating in PH if you can't help us?". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
  27. ^ Prier, Jarred (2017). "Commanding the Trend: Social Media as Information Warfare". Strategic Studies Quarterly. 11 (4): 50–85. ISSN 1936-1815. JSTOR 26271634.
  28. ^ "A Global Guide to State-Sponsored Trolling". Bloomberg.com. 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2020-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ^ Benedictus, Leo (2016-11-06). "Invasion of the troll armies: 'Social media where the war goes on'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  30. ^ "Nicaragua: Facebook accuses government of ties to shuttered accounts". Deutsche Welle. 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ Stanley-Becker, Isaac (15 September 2020). . The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021. In 2016, there were Macedonian teenagers interfering in the election by running a troll farm...In this election, the troll farm is in Phoenix.
  32. ^ Wong, Julia (11 June 2021). "Revealed: rightwing firm posed as leftist group on Facebook to divide Democrats". The Guardian. San Francisco. Retrieved 26 September 2021. Rally Forge ... established a domestic 'troll farm' in Phoenix, Arizona, that employed teenagers to churn out pro-Trump social media posts, some of which cast doubt on the integrity of the US election system or falsely charged Democrats with attempting to steal the election
  33. ^ "Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-01-14.

May 06, 2023
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A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision making 1 One study showed that 30 governments worldwide out of 65 covered by the study paid keyboard armies to spread propaganda and attack critics 2 According to the report these governments use paid commentators trolls and bots to harass journalists and erode trust in the media Attempts were made to influence elections in 18 of the countries covered by the study 2 Contents 1 Albania 2 Brazil 3 India 4 China 5 Finland 6 North Macedonia 7 Malaysia 8 Philippines 9 Russia 10 Turkey 11 Nicaragua 12 United States 13 Vietnam 14 See also 15 ReferencesAlbania EditIn February 2020 the New York Times interviewed 10 ex People s Mujahedin of Iran MEK members who said that the MEK s Albania camp had a troll farm that promoted the opinions of MEK supporters including Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton and attacked the Iranian government The MEK claimed that the former members were Iranian government spies 3 In the March 2021 CIB Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior report Facebook announced that it removed hundreds of accounts pages and groups in both Facebook and Instagram which were in a troll farm in Albania operated by MEK 4 Brazil EditIt has been widely suspected that Brazil s president Jair Bolsonaro and his family created troll farms to promote support for his government policies and to attack and harass rivals through the internet These fake accounts and bots are possibly controlled by an office inside one of Bolsonaro s government buildings led by Jair s son Carlos known as office of hate 5 which is suspected to have created more than a thousand fake accounts to support Bolsonaro s government 6 Troll accounts have also been linked to misinformation related to the COVID 19 pandemic in Brazil as Bolsonaro s government is known for having adopted a denialist and weak posture regarding the pandemic 7 India EditIndia s ruling party BJP has a large number of online supporters who support its agenda and attack political rivals Their methods were recorded by investigative journalist Swati Chaturvedi who described them as digital army in her book the subject I Am a Troll Inside the Secret World of the BJP s Digital Army 8 China EditSee also 50 Cent Party 50 Cent Party is a term used for online users who have been hired by the authorities of the People s Republic of China to manipulate public opinion and disseminate disinformation to the benefit of the governing Chinese Communist Party CCP Finland EditFinnish investigative journalist Jessikka Aro interviewed workers at a troll factory in Saint Petersburg Aro was harassed online after she published her story 9 A court in Helsinki convicted three persons who had harassed Aro on charges of defamation and negligence 10 Aro has stated that online trolls can negatively affect freedom of speech and democracy 11 North Macedonia EditAt the town of Veles locals launched at least 140 United States political websites supporting Donald Trump 12 13 14 15 16 17 In 2020 during the COVID 19 pandemic Facebook found that troll farms from North Macedonia and the Philippines pushed coronavirus disinformation The publisher which used content from these farms was banned 18 Malaysia EditIn 2022 Meta Platforms announced that it has removed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts that were directly linked with the Royal Malaysia Police RMP as they were used as part of a troll farm to disseminate propaganda and manipulate public discourse about the Malaysian police and the government 19 Meta added that such actions were against its policy of coordinated inauthentic behaviour 20 Philippines EditSee also Fake news in the Philippines The Philippines has been called patient zero in the global disinformation epidemic 21 Studies into the country s troll farms found that political campaigns pay trolls 1 000 to 2 000 per month to create multiple fake social media accounts to post political propaganda and attack critics 21 22 The political campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte has spent 200 000 to hire online trolls according to one study 23 Duterte admitted to hiring trolls for his 2016 political campaign 24 25 Since then trolling behaviour supportive of Duterte has been traced back to taxpayer funded government institutions 26 Russia EditSee also Russian web brigades The Internet Research Agency building dubbed the Russian troll factory is seen at Savushkina Street in St Petersburg Russia The building is now for rent The Russian web brigades including Internet Research Agency became known in the late 2010s for the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections 1 The Internet Research Agency has employed troll armies to spread propaganda command Twitter trends and sow fear and erode trust in American political and media institutions 27 Turkey EditSee also AK Trolls The ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey has a troll farm commonly known as AK Trolls 28 29 Nicaragua EditIn November 2021 Facebook reported that it closed accounts groups and pages in Facebook and Instagram linked to a troll farm operated by the Sandinista National Liberation Front the ruling party in Nicaragua 30 United States EditDuring the 2020 United States presidential election and the COVID 19 pandemic Turning Point USA and its affiliate Turning Point Action were described as troll farms for paying young conservatives in Phoenix Arizona some of them minors with parental support to post misinformation about the integrity of the electoral process and the threat of COVID 19 The payout included bonuses for posts that generated greater engagement They used their own social media accounts or fake accounts without disclosing their relationship with Turning Point and were instructed by Turning Point to slightly alter and repost the modified messages a limited number of times to avoid automatic detection 31 32 Since the early 2020s American conservatives have accused the website TikTok of spying on its users in cooperation with the Chinese government These accusations and conspiracy theories were reportedly created in part by Republican consulting firms such as Targeted Victory as well as Facebook parent Meta 33 Vietnam EditSee also Public opinion brigadesSee also Edit Internet portal Politics portalAlarmism Excessive or exaggerated alarm about a real or imagined threat Alternative facts Expression associated with political misinformation established in 2017 Big lie Propaganda technique Chequebook journalism Practice of news reporters paying sources for information Citizen journalism Journalism genre Clickbait Web content intended to entice users to click on a link Confirmation bias Bias confirming existing attitudes Demoralization warfare damaging an enemy s fighting spiritPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback Disinformation False information spread deliberately to deceive Doomscrolling Compulsive consumption of large quantity of negative online news Echo chamber media Situation that reinforces beliefs by repetition inside a closed system Euromyth Exaggerated or invented story about the European Union Fact Datum or structured component of reality Fact checking Process of verifying information in non fictional text Factoid Either an invented claim or a trivial fact Fake news False or misleading information presented as news Fake news website Website that deliberately publishes hoaxes and disinformation Fallacy of composition Fallacy of inferring on the whole from a part False equivalence Logical fallacy of inconsistency Fearmongering Deliberate use of fear based tactics Filter bubble Intellectual isolation involving search engines Firehose of falsehood Propaganda technique Freedom of the press Freedom of communication and expression through various media Information quality term to describe the quality of the content of information systemsPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback Information silo Insular information management system Internet meme Concept that spreads from person to person via the Internet Journalism ethics and standards Principles of ethics and of good practice in journalism Mainstream media Mass news media that influence many people List of fake news websites Muckraker Progressive Era reform minded journalists Political bias Bias towards a political side in supposedly objective information Post truth politics Political culture where facts are considered irrelevant Pseudohistory Pseudoscholarship that attempts to distort or misrepresent the historical record Selective exposure theory Theory within the practice of psychology Social Networks journalPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback Pages displaying short descriptions with no spaces Spiral of silence Political science and mass communication theory Tabloid journalism Style of largely sensationalist journalism Tribe Internet Slang for an unofficial community of people who share a common interestPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Truthiness Quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true rather than actual truth Turing test Test of a machine s ability to imitate human intelligence Yellow journalism Sensationalistic newsReferences Edit a b Russian troll factory paid US activists to help fund protests during election World news The Guardian TheGuardian com 26 November 2017 Archived from the original on 26 November 2017 Retrieved 12 January 2018 a b Titcomb James 2017 11 14 Governments in 30 countries are paying keyboard armies to spread propaganda report says The Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Retrieved 2020 05 23 Kingsley Patrick 2020 02 16 Highly Secretive Iranian Rebels Are Holed Up in Albania They Gave Us a Tour The New York Times Archived from the original on 2020 02 16 Retrieved 2020 02 16 Facebook March 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report Rosati Andrew Lima Mario 22 June 2020 In Hunt for Office of Hate Brazil s Supreme Court Closes In Bloomberg Archived from the original on 4 February 2021 Retrieved 27 September 2021 Freitas Carolina 3 April 2021 55 de publicacoes pro Bolsonaro sao feitas por robos 55 of pro Bolsonaro publications are made by robots Globo in Portuguese Valor Economico Archived from the original on 27 February 2021 Retrieved 26 September 2021 Mello Patricia 4 August 2020 Brazil s Troll Army Moves Into the Streets The New York Times Opinion piece Sao Paulo Archived from the original on 16 September 2021 Retrieved 26 September 2021 Sanghvi Vir 29 December 2016 I am a troll Inside the secret world of BJP s digital army Business Standard India Schultz Teri October 17 2018 Pro Kremlin online harassment on trial in Finland Deutsche Welle Retrieved 2020 05 23 Staudenmaier Rebecca October 18 2018 Court in Finland finds pro Kremlin trolls guilty of harassing journalist Deutsche Welle Retrieved 2020 05 23 Miller Nick 2016 03 11 Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro s inquiry into Russian trolls stirs up a hornet s nest The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 2020 05 23 How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News BuzzFeed News Tynan Dan August 24 2016 How Facebook powers money machines for obscure political news sites The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Remnick David 18 November 2016 Obama Reckons with a Trump Presidency The New Yorker Subramanian Samanth February 15 2017 Meet the Macedonian Teens Who Mastered Fake News and Corrupted the US Election Wired via www wired com Kirby Emma Jane December 5 2016 The city getting rich from fake news BBC News Byrne Andrew 16 December 2016 Macedonia s fake news industry sets sights on Europe Financial Times Collins Ben Zadrozny Brandy May 20 2020 Troll farms from North Macedonia and the Philippines pushed coronavirus disinformation on Facebook NBC News Babulal Veena 5 August 2022 Meta removes Malaysian troll farm Facebook Instagram accounts some with links to police nst com my New Straits Times Retrieved 5 August 2022 H Rodzi Nadirah 5 August 2022 Malaysian police allegedly linked to troll farm on Facebook Instagram www straitstimes com The Straits Times Retrieved 5 August 2022 a b Bengali Shashank Halper Evan 2019 11 19 Troll armies a growth industry in the Philippines may soon be coming to an election near you Los Angeles Times Retrieved 2020 06 08 Williams Sean 2017 01 04 Rodrigo Duterte s Army of Online Trolls The New Republic ISSN 0028 6583 Retrieved 2020 06 08 Matsuzawa Mikas July 24 2017 Duterte camp spent 200 000 for troll army Oxford study finds Philstar Retrieved 2020 06 08 Mongaya Karlo Mikhail 2017 08 09 Philippines troll in chief Duterte admits hiring defenders during polls Business Standard India Retrieved 2020 06 08 Ranada Pia Duterte says online defenders trolls hired only during campaign Rappler Retrieved 2020 06 08 Lalu Gabriel Pabico September 29 2020 Duterte tells Facebook Why keep operating in PH if you can t help us Philippine Daily Inquirer Prier Jarred 2017 Commanding the Trend Social Media as Information Warfare Strategic Studies Quarterly 11 4 50 85 ISSN 1936 1815 JSTOR 26271634 A Global Guide to State Sponsored Trolling Bloomberg com 2018 07 19 Retrieved 2020 05 12 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Benedictus Leo 2016 11 06 Invasion of the troll armies Social media where the war goes on The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 2020 05 12 Nicaragua Facebook accuses government of ties to shuttered accounts Deutsche Welle 2021 11 02 Retrieved 2021 11 02 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Stanley Becker Isaac 15 September 2020 Pro Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a troll farm prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on 4 November 2020 Retrieved 26 September 2021 In 2016 there were Macedonian teenagers interfering in the election by running a troll farm In this election the troll farm is in Phoenix Wong Julia 11 June 2021 Revealed rightwing firm posed as leftist group on Facebook to divide Democrats The Guardian San Francisco Retrieved 26 September 2021 Rally Forge established a domestic troll farm in Phoenix Arizona that employed teenagers to churn out pro Trump social media posts some of which cast doubt on the integrity of the US election system or falsely charged Democrats with attempting to steal the election Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved 2023 01 14 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Troll farm amp oldid 1140084850, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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