That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

[sun rise]

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry.
...
Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. While the rest of the world learned how to conduct a modern disinformation campaign from the Russians, it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft. To appreciate the influence and potential of Russian disinformation, we need to view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.
...
As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly. In fall 2018, for example, a Russian account we identified called @PoliteMelanie re-crafted an old urban legend, tweeting: “My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. ‘What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?’ 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home.” This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet. The tweet was also wildly successful, receiving more than 90,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.
...
The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.
...
Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.
...
the IRA encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

 

[leov]

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry.
...
Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. While the rest of the world learned how to conduct a modern disinformation campaign from the Russians, it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft. To appreciate the influence and potential of Russian disinformation, we need to view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.
...
As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly. In fall 2018, for example, a Russian account we identified called @PoliteMelanie re-crafted an old urban legend, tweeting: “My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. ‘What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?’ 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home.” This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet. The tweet was also wildly successful, receiving more than 90,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.
...
The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.
...
Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.
...
the IRA encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

Absolutely, they always eager to add some fuel into American fire.

 

[Debater Slayer]

As an Arab watching what's happening in the U.S. and the increasing blame on outside powers like Russia and China for the deplorable, irrationality-riddled political climate in the U.S., I can't help but feel it is in multiple ways reminiscent of the Middle East's decades-long obsession with blame-shifting and remarkable failure to introspect, self-correct, and look in the mirror.

Don't mind me. Just a foreigner seeing a country I once admired slowly become similar to third-world hellholes in a few major ways--and it is not pretty to see, to say the least.

 

[Shad]

Good thing I got off twitter long ago.

 

[Shad]

As an Arab watching what's happening in the U.S. and the increasing blame on outside powers like Russia and China for the deplorable, irrationality-riddled political climate in the U.S., I can't help but feel it is in multiple ways reminiscent of the Middle East's decades-long obsession with blame-shifting and remarkable failure to introspect, self-correct, and look in the mirror.

Don't mind me. Just a foreigner seeing a country I once admired slowly become similar to third-world hellholes in a few major ways--and it is not pretty to see, to say the least.

It is easy to blame external forces than admit something is wrong with the system or people. See; Clinton.

 

[anna.]

It is easy to blame external forces than admit something is wrong with the system or people. See; Clinton.

It is easy to blame external forces than admit something is wrong with the system or people. See: Trump.

 

[Shad]

It is easy to blame external forces than admit something is wrong with the system or people. See: Trump.

Both are symptoms of the same disease. Clinton is the one in denial about her lose though.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Good thing I got off twitter long ago.

It's best reserved for narcissists and sociopaths.

 

[Shad]

It's best reserved for narcissists and sociopaths.

It is more or less people tagging everything with automated shares. I can limit some of the sharing but when people do massive user tags I can only do so much. These goes beyond politics into just random junk sharing like jokes or some interest people have.

 

[sun rise]

It is easy to blame external forces than admit something is wrong with the system or people. See; Clinton.

Ignoring the point to get on that tired right-wing hobby horse.

 

[sun rise]

It is more or less people tagging everything with automated shares. I can limit some of the sharing but when people do massive user tags I can only do so much. These goes beyond politics into just random junk sharing like jokes or some interest people have.

Twitter, yes, of course. But it goes beyond twitter to social media in general. And to me the best defense is healthy skepticism assuming that posts could be attempts to "market" disruptive ideas.

 

[Shad]

Ignoring the point to get on that tired right-wing hobby horse.

Like Trump and the left? Yawn

I acknowledge both if you scroll up. Of course Clinton was the perfect candidate /s

 

[SigurdReginson]

As an Arab watching what's happening in the U.S. and the increasing blame on outside powers like Russia and China for the deplorable, irrationality-riddled political climate in the U.S., I can't help but feel it is in multiple ways reminiscent of the Middle East's decades-long obsession with blame-shifting and remarkable failure to introspect, self-correct, and look in the mirror.

Don't mind me. Just a foreigner seeing a country I once admired slowly become similar to third-world hellholes in a few major ways--and it is not pretty to see, to say the least.

It feels like people are much more concerned about themselves than their neighbors in this day and age. Rather than "Land of the free, home of the brave," it's more like "I'm gonna get mine."

Kids bullying you in class? Shoot up the class. Guns potentially being used to shoot kids in school? Ban all guns. Background checks and other practical gun restrictions that'd save lives? Don't take my guns away. Don't like Conservatives taking your freedoms? Join the ANTIFA crowd and start wailing on people. Don't like liberals taking your freedoms? Join the Proud Boys and start wailing on people.

It's true that outside influences do effect us, but as you say, there's something wrong with us culturally right now that goes deeper. I don't think we are really all that interested in solving it in any meaningful way right now, to be honest - not until it becomes too inconvenient to ignore.

 

[Stevicus]

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry.
...
Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. While the rest of the world learned how to conduct a modern disinformation campaign from the Russians, it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft. To appreciate the influence and potential of Russian disinformation, we need to view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.
...
As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly. In fall 2018, for example, a Russian account we identified called @PoliteMelanie re-crafted an old urban legend, tweeting: “My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. ‘What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?’ 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home.” This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet. The tweet was also wildly successful, receiving more than 90,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.
...
The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.
...
Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.
...
the IRA encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

The thing is, anyone can troll the internet, no matter if they're Russians, Chinese, Americans, British, Albanians, Sri Lankans - anyone with internet access can post provocative questions on Twitter. We can't generally know if these are individuals, organizations, or perhaps even foreign governments.

There are certainly plenty of individuals, organizations, and governments who could conceivably have a grudge against America, not to mention numerous domestic factions who can do their own share of troublemaking and trolling on the internet. I don't know why so many people are fixating on the Russians as if they're the only ones who are capable and willing to do something like this.

I suppose one solution might be for U.S. internet service providers to block all traffic originating from Russia.

Another possibility would be for social media and websites to have large warnings in red letters if someone's account originates from outside the United States.

 

[Father Heathen]

Foreign trolls may know what buttons to push, but our own culture is at fault for having those buttons. The trolls are feeding us.

 

[Augustus]

Twitter, yes, of course. But it goes beyond twitter to social media in general. And to me the best defense is healthy skepticism assuming that posts could be attempts to "market" disruptive ideas.

With all fast updating media, the best defence is not to expose yourself to it in the first place. The faster a media source is updated, the greater the percentage of false information it contains (even assuming a hypothetical perfect objectivity). Every piece of information we are exposed to influences us in some way. Scepticism and fact checking can help reduce the amount of false information we retain, but it cannot stop us from retaining a fair amount of it as true.

The more fast-moving media we consume, the more 'anti-knowledge' we acquire, so you can actually become less smart by being more 'informed'

If something important happens, you'll find out anyway. I reduced my news media consumption by about 95% and don't feel I'm missing out on anything.

You could spend hundreds of hours consuming breaking news (gossip and trivia) on all of the Trump scandals, reading pundits who have been wrong before guessing at what happens next, etc. or ignore it all, you'll find out main points via passive exposure anyway, and wait for the result.

Use the free time to read 'slow media' like books, or (some) articles that are more interesting and informative (or follow people on social media who focus on 'slow' information, not breaking news)

 

[Tumah]

As an Arab watching what's happening in the U.S. and the increasing blame on outside powers like Russia and China for the deplorable, irrationality-riddled political climate in the U.S., I can't help but feel it is in multiple ways reminiscent of the Middle East's decades-long obsession with blame-shifting and remarkable failure to introspect, self-correct, and look in the mirror.

Don't mind me. Just a foreigner seeing a country I once admired slowly become similar to third-world hellholes in a few major ways--and it is not pretty to see, to say the least.

I think it's important to be a little more discerning.

There do exist state-sponsored malicious actors working on the international stage for the political gains of their host country, and Russia, China and Iran are some of the leaders in that regard. APT10, APT28 and APT33 respectively, are prime examples.

That doesn't mean that every malicious act is state-sponsored. There are obviously many lone wolves and group working for their own goals. But I think we also can't dismiss out of hand that a malicious act with political repercussions as possibly being government led.

 

[Valjean]

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry.
...
Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. While the rest of the world learned how to conduct a modern disinformation campaign from the Russians, it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft. To appreciate the influence and potential of Russian disinformation, we need to view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.
...
As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly. In fall 2018, for example, a Russian account we identified called @PoliteMelanie re-crafted an old urban legend, tweeting: “My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. ‘What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?’ 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home.” This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet. The tweet was also wildly successful, receiving more than 90,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.
...
The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.
...
Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.
...
the IRA encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

I'd call such people professional propagandists or saboteurs, rather than trolls.

 

[PureX]

... the IRA encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

We can thank the republican party's "genius" Carl Rove for teaching the Russians how to use lies and slander to stir up American ignorance and prejudice and animosity and use it against their opponents. And we can thank folks like Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdoch for adopting and adapting those tactics to attract listeners and viewers for profit. And most of all we can thank each other for being so ready and able to buy into every lie they tell so long as it supports our own biased and self-serving view of reality.

 

[Stevicus]

Twitter, yes, of course. But it goes beyond twitter to social media in general. And to me the best defense is healthy skepticism assuming that posts could be attempts to "market" disruptive ideas.

I think the best defense is to have a firm set of principles and stand by them, focusing on the issues more than gossip or other extracurricular activities. It's also best to keep one's emotions in check; let your head rule over your heart.

The key question anyone should ask when encountering an article or post on social media is this: What political issue is being addressed here?

If one can't identify an actual political issue or proposition which one can oppose or support, then the response should be "Nothing to see here, folks."

 

[Shad]

Twitter, yes, of course. But it goes beyond twitter to social media in general. And to me the best defense is healthy skepticism assuming that posts could be attempts to "market" disruptive ideas.

I have limited FB as well.