'Our task was to set Americans against their own government': Russia's trolling operation

https://www.businessinsider.com/former-troll-russia-disinformation-campaign-trump-2017-10?fbclid=IwAR1_perTsk7xjWj4hXZSeEwQMtgt1_ZZb3B2Usx-HOo1fr8bflZ-Ys54Gsk

Sonam Sheth
Oct 17, 2017, 7:26 PM

Recently revealed details about how an infamous Russian "troll farm" operated and its role in Russia's disinformation campaign shed new light on Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential race.

One former troll, who was interviewed by the independent Russian news outlet Dozhd and went by "Maxim," or Max, spoke of his experience working for the Internet Research Agency, a well-researched Russian company in St. Petersburg whose function is to spread pro-Russian propaganda and sow political discord in nations perceived as hostile to Russia.

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The Internet Research Agency, Max told Dozhd, consisted of a "Russian desk" and a "foreign desk." The Russian desk, which was primarily made up of bots and trolls, used fake social-media accounts to flood the internet with pro-Trump agitprop and made-up news throughout the US presidential campaign, especially in the days leading up to the November election.

The foreign desk had a more sophisticated purpose, according to Max, who worked in that department. "It’s not just writing ‘Obama is a monkey’ and ‘Putin is great.’ They’ll even fine you for that kind of [primitive] stuff," he told Dozhd. In fact, those who worked for the foreign desk were restricted from spreading pro-Russia propaganda. Rather, Max said, their job was more qualitative and was geared toward understanding the "nuances" of American politics to "rock the boat" on divisive issues like gun control and LGBT rights.

"Our goal wasn’t to turn the Americans toward Russia," he added. "Our task was to set Americans against their own government: to provoke unrest and discontent, and to lower Obama’s support ratings."

An entire department, the "Department of Provocations," was dedicated to that goal: Its primary objective was to disseminate fake news and sow discord in the West, according to CNN.

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Facebook has turned over more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads to Congress. RBC's investigation found that in 2016 Russia's propaganda network on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter could have reached 30 million people a week, and a Columbia University social-media analyst published research that found that Russian propaganda may have been shared billions of times on Facebook alone.