NEW YORK TIMES, RUSSIAN TROLLS
POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Monday, August 31, 2026 20:50
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55 Savushkina Street, last known home of the Internet Research Agency. Credit James Hill for The New York Times
The Agency
From a nondescript office building in St.
Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid “trolls”
has tried to wreak havoc all around the Internet
— and in real-life American communities.
By ADRIAN CHENJUNE 2, 2015
The Columbian Chemicals hoax was not some simple prank by a bored sadist. It was a highly coordinated disinformation campaign, involving dozens of fake accounts that posted hundreds of tweets for hours, targeting a list of figures precisely chosen to generate maximum attention. The perpetrators didn’t just doctor screenshots from CNN; they also created fully functional clones of the websites of Louisiana TV stations and newspapers. The YouTube video of the man watching TV had been tailor-made for the project. A Wikipedia page was even created for the Columbian Chemicals disaster, which cited the fake YouTube video. As the virtual assault unfolded, it was complemented by text messages to actual residents in St. Mary Parish. It must have taken a team of programmers and content producers to pull off.
Who was behind all of this? When I stumbled on it last fall, I had an idea. I was already investigating a shadowy organization in St. Petersburg, Russia, that spreads false information on the Internet. It has gone by a few names, but I will refer to it by its best known: the Internet Research Agency. The agency had become known for employing hundreds of Russians to post pro-Kremlin propaganda online under fake identities, including on Twitter, in order to create the illusion of a massive army of supporters; it has often been called a “troll farm.” The more I investigated this group, the more links I discovered between it and the hoaxes. In April, I went to St. Petersburg to learn more about the agency and its brand of information warfare, which it has aggressively deployed against political opponents at home, Russia’s perceived enemies abroad and, more recently, me.
Savchuk’s revelations about the agency have fascinated Russia not because they are shocking but because they confirm what everyone has long suspected: The Russian Internet is awash in trolls. “This troll business becomes more popular year by year,” says Platon Mamatov, who says that he ran his own troll farm in the Ural Mountains from 2008 to 2013. During that time he employed from 20 to 40 people, mostly students and young mothers, to carry out online tasks for Kremlin contacts and local and regional authorities from Putin’s United Russia party. Mamatov says there are scores of operations like his around the country, working for government authorities at every level. Because the industry is secretive, with its funds funneled through a maze of innocuous-sounding contracts and shell businesses, it is difficult to estimate exactly how many people are at work trolling today. But Mamatov claims “there are thousands — I’m not sure about how many, but yes, really, thousands.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html
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Trolling for Putin:
Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Lyudmila Savchuk says it was money that wooed her into the ranks of the Kremlin's online army, where she bombarded website comment pages with eulogies of President Vladimir Putin, while mocking his adversaries.
"Putin is great," "Ukrainians are Fascists," "Europe is decadent": Savchuk, 34, listed the main messages she was told to put out on Internet forums after responding to a job advertisement online.
"Our job was to write in a pro-government way, to interpret all events in a way that glorifies the government's politics and Putin personally," she said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trolling-putin-russias-information-war-expl
ained-063716887.html?ref=gs
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It is all the inconsistencies surrounding SIG and 1kiki that caught my attention and made me wonder what was going on. Not inconsistencies in their dogged criticism of the United States and its allies. No that has been very consistent. Instead it was the contradictions in their politics. Being socialist you would think they would support the socialist point of view. Unless it concerned Russia, too many times they would support the opposite. why?
Then there is the fact that they have supported Putin and Russia in every discussion here. Even when it was obvious that Russia was in the wrong. It is apparent that their beliefs mirror those from that part of the world. And When you look at some of what the trolls claim was the topic of the day, you can match it to SIG and 1kikis agenda here.
Quote:
"Putin is great," "Ukrainians are Fascists," "Europe is decadent": Savchuk, 34, listed the main messages she was told to put out on Internet forums after responding to a job advertisement online. Every morning, she says, she would get assignments for the day, a list of subjects on which to comment and ideas to propagate. "Ukraine has approved a reform plan to secure IMF aid" was the title of one recent assignment that Lyudmila had kept on her cellphone.
"Ukraine has approved a reform plan to secure IMF aid" was the title of one recent assignment that Lyudmila had kept on her cellphone.
Quote SIG
The latest entry into the “provoke a war” campaign is the IMF. The IMF seems intent on pitting Ukraine into a death-match with Russia by threatening their loan status: Fight, or else your loan conditions will be ‘renegotiated’. Since Ukraine’s economy is hanging on ONLY by this thread, the IMF’s statement is an existential threat to the Kiev government.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57955]
Quote:
The instructions were for her to respond to the potentially positive Ukrainian news story with negative comments, such as "For the Ukrainian government, military needs are more important than those of the people."
Quote SIG
It seems clear to me that the USA, the EU, and NATO are doing everything they can to provoke a war with Russia. This includes providing political cover and cookies and photo-ops with John McCain for Ukraine’s neo-Nazis, personally insulting Putin, breaking negotiated agreements with Russia, endlessly threatening sanctions, and lying in the press (with fake photos, fake flyers, and false reports).
Quote:
The online onslaught of identical, often abusive Internet comments discrediting Russia's opponents, and especially the United States, while hailing the Russian government, began even before Russia's standoff with Ukraine.”
The instructions were for her to respond to the potentially positive Ukrainian news story with negative comments, such as "For the Ukrainian government, military needs are more important than those of the people."
The online onslaught of identical, often abusive Internet comments discrediting Russia's opponents, and especially the United States, while hailing the Russian government, began even before Russia's standoff with Ukraine.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trolling-putin-russias-information-war-expl
ained-063716887.html?ref=gs
We are being inundated with Russian propaganda. So let’s address Russia. What it represents and what it is doing in and too the world.
____________________________________________
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MIKER
Once I found Serenity
Quote:
SIGNYM:
It seems clear to me that the USA, the EU, and NATO are doing everything they can to provoke a war with Russia. This includes providing political cover and cookies and photo-ops with John McCain for Ukraine’s neo-Nazis, personally insulting Putin, breaking negotiated agreements with Russia, endlessly threatening sanctions, and lying in the press (with fake photos, fake flyers, and false reports).
The latest entry into the “provoke a war” campaign is the IMF. The IMF seems intent on pitting Ukraine into a death-match with Russia by threatening their loan status: Fight, or else your loan conditions will be ‘renegotiated’. Since Ukraine’s economy is hanging on ONLY by this thread, the IMF’s statement is an existential threat to the Kiev government.
At this juncture, there’s no point in trying to figure who is behind all this. With the entry of the IMF (and for all I know, the remainder of the troika: the European Commission and the European Central Bank ECB) into the fray, this is clearly a well-coordinated plan, with the USA and the EU and the IMF alternately taking turns to push the project forward, creating no discernable division of interest between them.
Until recently, the Kiev government has been reluctant to mobilize its army because the army itself is probably divided; there have been reports of “security forces” defecting to the east. Instead, the Kiev government has been trying to create citizen militias… pro-Nazi groups and other irregular forces to take the place of the army.
Since the IMF has threatened to renegotiate the loan status, Turchinov, the unelected President of Kiev… oops, I mean Ukraine… has reinstated the draft. I can't imagine what liberal pro-western Ukrainians are thinking now... "Doubled gas prices? Halved pensions? And now the draft???"
----------------------------
Ukraine unrest: Kiev 'helpless' to quell parts of east
Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has admitted his forces are "helpless" to quell unrest driven by pro-Russian activists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27222023
Ukraine crisis: Russian flags fill May Day rally
Thousands of protesters carrying Russian flags filled the street of Donetsk on Friday, as part of a May Day rally.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27241740
IM F : $17 bn loan would need overhaul if Ukraine loses east
The IMF says its just-announced $17 billion rescue program for Ukraine would have to be overhauled if the country loses control of the economically important eastern region to pro-Russian separatists.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-17-bn-loan-overhaul-164648824.ht
ml
Ukraine crisis: Kiev reinstates conscription
Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has reinstated military conscription to deal with deteriorating security in the east of the country. The move, announced in a decree, came as pro-Russia militants seized the regional prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27247428
Quote:
Miker
There you go again. Letting the people responsible for these problems off the hook because all you want to do is blame those who are trying to help.
You never did answer where it is you come from. You have however proved your ignorance on all subjects under the sun and your inability to stop yourself from proving it.
Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
It is as plain as what you say is wrong, everything about what you speak is based on your hate.
I followed the first link and saw nothing of what you speak. It is the Ukraine along with everyone else blaming Russia.
I am done with trying to cut you slack. To continue discussing this or anything else with you would only mean there is something wrong with me.
You are a disappointment.
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Saturday, May 3, 2014 11:25 AM
MIKER
Once I found Serenity
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It seems clear to me that the USA, the EU, and NATO are doing everything they can to provoke a war with Russia. This includes providing political cover and cookies and photo-ops with John McCain for Ukraine’s neo-Nazis, personally insulting Putin, breaking negotiated agreements with Russia, endlessly threatening sanctions, and lying in the press (with fake photos, fake flyers, and false reports).
The latest entry into the “provoke a war” campaign is the IMF. The IMF seems intent on pitting Ukraine into a death-match with Russia by threatening their loan status: Fight, or else your loan conditions will be ‘renegotiated’. Since Ukraine’s economy is hanging on ONLY by this thread, the IMF’s statement is an existential threat to the Kiev government.
At this juncture, there’s no point in trying to figure who is behind all this. With the entry of the IMF (and for all I know, the remainder of the troika: the European Commission and the European Central Bank ECB) into the fray, this is clearly a well-coordinated plan, with the USA and the EU and the IMF alternately taking turns to push the project forward, creating no discernable division of interest between them.
Until recently, the Kiev government has been reluctant to mobilize its army because the army itself is probably divided; there have been reports of “security forces” defecting to the east. Instead, the Kiev government has been trying to create citizen militias… pro-Nazi groups and other irregular forces to take the place of the army.
Since the IMF has threatened to renegotiate the loan status, Turchinov, the unelected President of Kiev… oops, I mean Ukraine… has reinstated the draft. I can't imagine what liberal pro-western Ukrainians are thinking now... "Doubled gas prices? Halved pensions? And now the draft???"
----------------------------
Ukraine unrest: Kiev 'helpless' to quell parts of east
Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has admitted his forces are "helpless" to quell unrest driven by pro-Russian activists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27222023
Ukraine crisis: Russian flags fill May Day rally
Thousands of protesters carrying Russian flags filled the street of Donetsk on Friday, as part of a May Day rally.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27241740
IM F : $17 bn loan would need overhaul if Ukraine loses east
The IMF says its just-announced $17 billion rescue program for Ukraine would have to be overhauled if the country loses control of the economically important eastern region to pro-Russian separatists.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-17-bn-loan-overhaul-164648824.ht
ml
Ukraine crisis: Kiev reinstates conscription
Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has reinstated military conscription to deal with deteriorating security in the east of the country. The move, announced in a decree, came as pro-Russia militants seized the regional prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27247428]
Posted by Miker in response:
Here is a quote from the first link you provided as proof of your delusion that the US and EU are instigating things in the Ukraine.
"The acting president of Ukraine said that the tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed just over the border meant that "the threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real". Russia, which annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine last month, has said it has no plans to invade the east". Annexed means invaded and stole in this case. Did the US and EU goad Russia into that. I am sure you can cut and paste far out opinions about that but it would still be bull.
The BBC article says nothing about The US or EU being responsible for this crises, only how
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The link is to the NBC report SIG references about British and American trolls working for our perspective governments. It’s a bit less hypothetically descriptive about what they are doing (lol) than the source she references. Personally I want my government looking into what is posted on the internet. Including all its sources for distributing information. I.E. YouTube, Twitter and so on. I want them to spy on and harass those who utilize these sites to push agendas of hate, lies and disinformation; including DASH.
I saw nothing in the article that comes close to suggesting that Britain and the United States has the same agenda as the Russians. An agenda so corrupt that they kill journalists and close down independent news outlets creating a system of State run news outlets only.
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/27/22469304-snowden-do
cs-reveal-british-spies-snooped-on-youtube-and-facebook?lite
Hilary’s speech yesterday about the dangers Trump poses to this country. It gives insights into why SIG and 1KIKI attack her relentlessly and who they are as people. I for one don’t like the ideologies of these two. They are in league with the racists, bigots, and isolationists whose philosophies represent our darkest past and continue to damage our country.
To quote Clinton;
“A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military.”
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Quote:Here it is: http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=60770
The link is to the NBC report SIG references about British and American trolls working for our perspective governments. =THUGR
Quote:That's because you're a troll.
Personally I want my government looking into what is posted on the internet.
Quote:That's because you're a troll who hates freedom of speech.
Including all its sources for distributing information. I.E. YouTube, Twitter and so on.
Quote:That's because you're a troll who wants the government to be one, too.
I want them to spy on and harass those who utilize these sites to push agendas of hate, lies and disinformation
Quote:That's because you're a troll who lacks insight. (You posted this RIGHT AFTER urging our government to do the same as Russia. That is/you are monumentally brain-dead, like most trolls.)
I saw nothing in the article that comes close to suggesting that Britain and the United States has the same agenda as the Russians.
Quote:And you want the USA and the UK to be the same. Because you're a troll.
An agenda so corrupt that they kill journalists and close down independent news outlets creating a system of State run news outlets only.
Quote:The people who pose the greatest to the USA are Hillary's mindless backers: Trolls like you.
Hilary’s [sic] speech yesterday about the dangers Trump poses to this country.
Quote:A troll
It gives insights into whySIG and 1KIKI attackTHUGR thumps her relentlessly and whothey are as peoplehe is as a person.
Quote:Yanno, aside from being a troll, you're the biggest bigot on the board.
I for one don’t like the ideologies of these two. They are in league with the racists, bigots
Quote:Oh, you mean the one where George Washington (You DO recognize that name, right?) cautioned the young America to avoid foreign entanglements? THAT "dark past"?
and isolationists whose philosophies represent our darkest past
You're such a boob. And a troll.
Quote:Does that also apply to the woman who never met a war she couldn't resist? Who traffics with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other heinous tyrannies? The curious thing is that with every criticism "Hilary" makes, she tars herself with the same brush. That's because HILLARY is a troll.
To quote Clinton;
“A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military.”
And, you're a troll. One who apparently has no respect for either our Constitution or our ideals.
--------------
I think it's time you disabused yourself of that pleasant little fairy tale about our fearless leaders being some sort of surrogate daddy or mommy, laying awake at night thinking about how to protect the kids. HA! In reality, they're thinking about who to sell them to so that they can get a few more shekels in their pockets.
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I just have to add... THUGR, the reason why you so quickly and unthinkingly betrayed our nation's ideals and the Constitution on which we are founded is because you don't know what you stand for. You haven't given it a moment's thought.
You're as conditioned as one of Pavlov's dogs, who were trained to salivate whenever a bell rang altho no food was in sight: The minute our political leadership wants you to stand up and cheer for "our team" you grab your pompoms. The moment our political authorities paint someone as an "enemy" you want to go to war. It doesn't matter whether the reasons are good reasons, or bad ones, or even completely made-up ones (which is the case most of the time) you unthinkingly jump.
But somehow, despite the fact that you have been fooled time and time again into supporting wars which should have never even been fought, that doesn't seems to prevent you from jumping onto the NEXT bandwagon and supporting our next act of aggression.
Yanno, I love my country, I really do. I love the ideals that it was founded on, and I would love to see us be a real force for good in the world, or at least not a force for harm. Instead, what I see is us rampaging through the world, killing hundreds of thousands (if not millions), drunkenly creating failed states wherever we "intervene", letting loose the scourge of jihadism and cravenly supporting the Saudis and other repressive regimes because our almighty dollar is threatened.
Name one of our foreign intervention success stories in the past 30 years, I dare you.
It sickens me and make me angry to see our leaders, so corrupt, cynically destroying so many and so much.
--------------
I think it's time you disabused yourself of that pleasant little fairy tale about our fearless leaders being some sort of surrogate daddy or mommy, laying awake at night thinking about how to protect the kids. HA! In reality, they're thinking about who to sell them to so that they can get a few more shekels in their pockets.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I just have to add... THUGR, the reason why you so quickly and unthinkingly betrayed our nation's ideals and the Constitution on which we are founded is because you don't know what you stand for. You haven't given it a moment's thought.
Because of your unwavering defense of Russia and Putin I believe everything you post is for the purpose of discrediting the United States and our Allies. That includes suggesting Americans are failures in all we try to accomplish. You defend Putin while suggesting Hilary has 666 tattooed on her head. There is far too much anti American propaganda posted by you encompassed within these threads for you to call me unpatriotic and anti American. No one buying it SIG.
Quote:
SIG
You're as conditioned as one of Pavlov's dogs, who were trained to salivate whenever a bell rang altho no food was in sight: The minute our political leadership wants you to stand up and cheer for "our team" you grab your pompoms. The moment our political authorities paint someone as an "enemy" you want to go to war. It doesn't matter whether the reasons are good reasons, or bad ones, or even completely made-up ones (which is the case most of the time) you unthinkingly jump.
Pavlov’s dog, you have described yourself with uncanny accuracy. The rest is subjective assumptions and bullshit. Just like 98% of what you post in real world.
Quote:
SIG
But somehow, despite the fact that you have been fooled time and time again into supporting wars which should have never even been fought, that doesn't seems to prevent you from jumping onto the NEXT bandwagon and supporting our next act of aggression.
This is completely made up. I have not supported any wars here. What I have done, is challenge your honesty of posting about one countries aggressions against others. I have also posted about some of the reasoning behind some of Americas actions. I did and do this to see truth posted in response to your lies.
Quote:
SIG
Yanno, I love my country, I really do. I love the ideals that it was founded on, and I would love to see us be a real force for good in the world, or at least not a force for harm. Instead, what I see is us rampaging through the world, killing hundreds of thousands (if not millions), drunkenly creating failed states wherever we "intervene", letting loose the scourge of jihadism and cravenly supporting the Saudis and other repressive regimes because our almighty dollar is threatened.
Name one of our foreign intervention success stories in the past 30 years, I dare you.
It sickens me and make me angry to see our leaders, so corrupt, cynically destroying so many and so much.
I know you love your country; Russia. The rest is bullshit SIG. Whenever it is pointed out what Russia does you defend them while pushing their agenda. It’s that simple comrade.
Here you go SIG, look familiar. It's a picture of a Russian politician.
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For once, I agree with you.
But you seem to want war, and have a problem with peace. Well, no one ever said you're smart. Or even average.
Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!
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