The Dangerous World of Putin’s Trolls & Info warfare
Olga and I were joined by Jessikka Aro, Finnish journalist at the public broadcaster @Yleisradio and author of “PUTIN’S TROLLS”. She exposed Putin’s institutionalised, militarised trolling operations and in doing so, put herself in great danger.
We review the findings to Jessikka’s investigations, stopping along the way to talk about those whose lives have been devastated by trolling, but were able to counter their attacks. We were also interested in comparing Russia’s past use of weaponised warfare and if there have been any new developments today.
Some extra bits…
‘You’re a propagandist’
As we were speaking with Jessikka and she told us about the variety of tactics used to silence the voices exposing trolling and other forms of organised online attacks, the one thing that stood out that I could identify with was this: if you’re doing research and investigations in this field, expect to be called ‘a propagandist’ especially by those who you are investigating for trolling or pushing Russian narratives.
‘I’m not a liar: you’re the liar.’
It happened recently to the Italian Federation of Human Rights that had co-authored and presented a report on Russian narratives in the Italian press with Open Dialogue Foundation two weeks ago. They were accused of attacking the freedom of the press, and in some cases, were also called ‘propagandists’.
The two organisations have dedicated their work to upholding all human rights, including freedom of the press, and it was for this reason they had written the report—to draw attention to the distortions, Russian disinformation, and false narratives that have permeated the Italian press, especially regarding Ukraine and the war in Ukraine. These organisations, to which I give my full support, uphold democratic values and institutions. Russia and other authoritarian powers do not.
In the beginning of Russia’s renewed war against Ukraine, the Italian media (with very few exceptions) provided information on the on-going battles and Russia’s attack against civilians. Polling in March and April showed that over 60% of the population understood that Russia was the aggressor. This had changed significantly by May: roughly half the population does not attribute responsibility to Russia for the war and 38% attribute fault to Ukraine. It’s a stunning reversal.
(Tweet: Unknown vandals trashed a famous booksellers stall in Milano on Jul 8.)
I’ve written about why it happened in previous posts. The important part is the effect that a continuous flow of disinformation and misinformation has on a population: they end up not being able to tell the difference between what is true or false, what is right or wrong. The FIDU and ODF report wanted to underscore the sheer amount of Russian narratives in the Italian media at a time when Italians needed factful information.
It was shocking to see politicians and legacy media criticise two organisations that have always been on the right side of history.
Russian agitprop: religious substrata
Much has been written about Russian narratives pushing the falsehood of nazism in Ukraine through the disinformation pipelines, but very little has been written about the religious undertones in the Russian narratives. The war in Ukraine as a ‘jihad’.
From the US
I don’t even know where to begin with this. A Republican candidate rushes out of his door with an AR-15 to kill KKK attackers. In his campaign video, the candidate is using fear and hatred as a motivator for election: it works the other way too.
Is there anyone left that has the courage to discard this framing and fight an election on a solid electoral platform?
David Patrikarakos Reporting for Unheard: Inside the Ukrainian resistance
“The situation in the city is very, very bad. The Russian occupiers are increasing their presence all the time. They ride around the city with impunity and break down the doors of houses and apartments. Soldiers usually come at around midnight and start searching for evidence of partisan activity. Often, they just take people away. Now they’ve turned their attention to officials. A few days ago, they arrested the mayor and some members of the city council. It’s getting worse…”
Programming note
EuroFile@6 with David Pepper
Scott, the Transatlantic Crew and I will be speaking with David Pepper, author of ‘Laboratories of Autocracy’ on EuroFile@6 Spaces on Monday Jul 11 at 6pm Rome/ 5pm London/ 12pm NYC/ 7pm Kyiv.
It’s a hot summer in so many ways— emergencies on both continents. We’ll be talking about which ones we need to pay attention to now, and how to address them. We all need to up our game.
Would you like to contribute?
Today’s post is available to everyone as the information that Jessikka Aro had to give us on the podcast and the articles and bits I’ve included here are important for all of us to ponder over and perhaps share with others.
If you’d like to contribute to our research, investigations and efforts at shoring up democracy, we’d be grateful for your help.
A huge shout out to those of you that already do, and to those who are offering their services to help us get this out to everyone because that shows that we all care about what is happening. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mo & Scott
Jul 10--Kremlin File with Jessikka Aro