Troll Gardens: Every Activist group now gets Troll Training

Troll Farms of all kinds are growing because they work, and people are willing to pay for information operations supporting their point of view. Exposing them  has only made them morph into less recognizable forms. with a central control group ands decentralized communicators, they are on both the Left and  Right and are active in this  2024 election-case. I propose an example group on each side, but there are many

Troll Farms now use a message control group, which analyzes communication momentary trends, develops a response strategy, and then farms the messages out to locally specific volunteers and bots to communicate the counter message.

Campaigns have always gathered supporters to help them communicate their message  Now every politically active groups may be beginning to use tools troll farm tactics with which to weaponize information.

• Dis, Mis, and Mal information Amplification
• Dis, Mis, and Mal information Suppression
• Twists on real information
• Tactics
• Astroturfing
• DARVO
• Glorifying their candidate to
• villainizing their opponent

Two Activist group case studies, both with their own troll farm networks, One Left and one Right 

On the Right

Turning Point USA, 

https://www.tpusa.com/

a non-profit political organization. Turning Point USA's  founder, Charlie Kirk, opened up the Republican National Convention this summer.  

TPUSA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom.

• Control Group: Web site and Headquarters
• locally specific volunteers: Chapters of Student Groups across the country

On the Left

 ATI / Civic Listening Corps

Through our volunteer network, we operate campaigns to understand and combat misinformation and disinformation impacting our every aspect of our life. We coordinate with stakeholders across advocacy, academia, and journalism sectors to ensure insights are shared and accessible. We are actively monitoring problematic narratives online concerning elections and democracy, public health, climate, civil rights, and international conflict.

• Control Group: algorithmic Transparency Institute (ati ) https://ati.io/
• locally specific volunteers: Civic Listening Corps https://www.civiclistening.org/

As we enter the 2024 election season there is more troll work than ever. I propose legislation that all groups clearly identify themselves in political information operations, and  information disfunction is documented and be subject to neutral part audit with a public release of reports, and violations fined,  since self regulation has not worked.

 

  

Handle Harvest Warehouse

 

This is a disorganized/junkyard/warehouse/Archive of Accounts 

that were information Operation accounts at one time. They may have been: 

• Vatniks
• Jihadniks
• Maganiks
• CCPniks
• People
• Bots

How troll farms use accounts is changing.  

The have an endless supply of disposable accounts

They can add or strip down hundreds of thousands of followers from these

 accounts at a click

They can be any of the above flavors or new or none-

they could be on the shelf Like Droid armies

 

(Bing image)

Russians throw these accounts around like they do they soldiers, in meat waves

this is Cubie from

@MeatCubie

 

• Vatniks
• Jihadniks
• Maganiks
• CCPniks

@HHsirHKBaloch

@Pardessi_Ali

https://twitter.com/Pardessi_Ali

@rann_ND

 

@1_state

·

mSmackDejay

@hkx077

• Maganiks
• CCPniks

Troll Farms as a Service (TAAS)

"Troll Farms are like Cockroaches; they scatter to the dark when a light is turned on."

@GHGManagement

 Troll Farm activities only work when non one knows who and where they are; and when an information operations is exposed, they must scatter to accounts who don't know it's happening.

Since how they operate is being exposed, they have to change their tactics:

I expect to see:

Pop Up Troll Farms

Trolling is a numbers game. In Pruszkiewicz’s case, she found that a small team of a dozen or so people could command at least 70 accounts on Facebook, 94 on Twitter, 11 on Instagram, and three on YouTube. Collectively, these can create 10,000 posts defending a client or attacking their rivals, potentially reaching 15 million views. 

Interview, NewOrkTimes 2018 interview of Troll Farm Manager Pryuszkiewicz

Book to Bonk By

You've got a real type of thing going down, gettin down
There's a whole lot of Bonkin going round

Do we need to Bonk?

Oh We want the Bonk

Give up the Bonk

We want the Bonk

Gotta have that Bonk

Why do we Bonk?

If you wanna Bonk, 

Really really wanna Bonk

You can Bonk for Fun,on the Run

Bonk 'cause your Mad, cause your Sad

To Fund Ukraine, cause your politicians a Pain

 Who do we Bonk?

Propaganda  site Swallows

Vatniks with large follows

Autocrats, democrats, Republicans in Power

Dictators, Autocrats, and pretenders that Sour 

know the one who is causing the harm

Useful Idiot, Vatnik, Bot or Farm

Remember that the arguments the sin

Not the vehicle or account it arrives in

When do we Bonk?

When an information operation becomes clear

When disinformation, division is near 

When we see a wild unsupported claim

that follows along a troll farm's aim

 

When do we NOT  Bonk?

When a rage farmer provokes with an unfocused name

When distraction from Bonk is clearly the aim

We never do battle with AI or a bot

Bonking ammo, make it count for the lot.

 

How do We Bonk

When an information operation is clear

When all the op players bring noise to the ear

Aim at the concept, the fact twist, the lie

Remember the rules of  the platform you try

With Gaslight and Snark, and questions galore

With memes, pics and articles and more

You've got a real type of thing going down, gettin down
There's a whole lot of Bonkin going round

A Conversation with Putin about Ruskiy Mir

 

President Putin;

Interviewer: Thank you for the time in know you are a busy man. I would love to ask you a few  questions to help foreigner leaders and their representatives who speak with you to understand your "Russian World" concept.

Putin "Yes this is my favorite topic; this is my concept to make Russia Great Again."

Interviewer "Are you saying that Russia is not currently great?"

Putin "No, no. Russia has always been great, but we are working to restore our Historic lands.  Historic Lands is a useful term because it can mean we establish a claim on any place a Russian has ever been to, traveled through, any land a Russian speaker lives in now or in the future."

Interviewer: "please continue."

Putin: "Russian is a useful term, too, because it can be applied to the pure blood Russians, the Muscovy Peoples, any ethnic person in a country that depends upon Russia, and non- Russians who have been "Russified" anywhere in the world, like we are doing in Africa. It also, in certain circumstances, means Russians who have left Russia, Friends of Russia, or anyone  who speaks Russian in any country in the world, even of they disagree with  Russkiy Mir."

Interviewer: "So the meaning of both Russia and Russian expand or contract as you see fit to synchronize with your information operations, is that right?"

Puitn: "Yes, that's right."

Interviewer " So based on these definitions of Russia and Russian, is their any potential place that can never be Russian, or group of people who can never be Russians?

Putin: "Some will take longer time than others, but eventually that is true"

Interviewer "what happens if  a country, a people or a person does not want to be Russified?"

Putin: "You are from the West, you have little understanding of these things, so I will explain; I heard your Hillary Clinton once say in an interview. "You convince as many as you can, and take away the resources of the others".  Russkiy Mir works that way.  It is the only way a world can be unified and at Peace. You convince them to believe in it, and then persuade as many as you can to make Russian choices. This is what it is to become Russified. If people or groups cannot be convinced and Persuaded, then they are NAZI/enemy, and they must be conquered. We make an example of them for others. We rubble their resources and whoever is left serves Russkiy Mir in service life or in death. We then will move Russified peoples into our new Russian land. When, this is complete we will have the Russian Peace. The Children removed from what used to Ukraine were send east to live with Russian families to Become Russified- they will be the next soldiers in the growth of Ruskiy MIr.

Interviewer "So if  a person or group or country does not wish to undergo this Russkiy Mir process, must the rest of  Russkiy Mir be at war with them until they submit?"

Putin: "There is a process that will take some time, both today and in generations to come. Because of our teaching through what you call information operations, targeted to every group both inside and outside Russia today, most will submit by choice - your remember the last line in Geroge Orwell's book 1984 - "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." It will be like that.""

Interviewer " so I hear you saying the only peace for the world is unity in submission to single system, is that Right?"

Putin "Yes, because the Russian culture is unified and superior. the Muslims say peace and submission, too, but the Muslims themselves are divided.

Interviewer "is there anything else you want to add?

Putin "The west is the only people who oppose us now, because the majority follow us in our multipolar world, not the US. We are united, the West is divided  and we will win. 

Disclaimer:

This interview never happened It is literary device to summarize President Putin's real views, on his real concepts and plans

Policy By Other Means - Cold War II

 Clausewitz said that Policy by other means is [essentially] war. This is what Putin's Russia  is doing. It is a careful and long game. He set the ground work in 2007 with the Russkiy Mir foundation, followed by the annexation of Ukrainian Land in 2014. Putin's version of  Hitler's Mein Kampf  was published in 2020, and he launged a full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Russia uses its skilled information operators to carefully craft different messages to the internal Russians, Russians outside Russia, his allies and his enemies before he takes the next step in his plan. The west has done a poor job of listening up to now. If we listen carefully to what he tells us, we can prepare for his next move in this Global Cold War II and prevent a very possible World War III.

Though the 2022 Invasion's initial failure was a setback, He has never altered the plan, and is preparing the Russian people for a general mobilization to war after his reelection in March of 2024. 

Before we get to how we got here, lets talk about what comes next:

If we listen carefully Putin's acts, words to different groups, and his deceptions, we see he has drawn up sides for the coming conflict, and tell us what his next moves will be:

• He has set up the BRICS economic alliance as an alternative to the EU, and in anticipation of being left out of other world economic groups when he expands his war
• He has established  and is expanding a military industrial complex outside the reach of sanctions with his allies in North Korea, China, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and possibly Nicaragua to support a long drawn out war
• He is establishing diplomatic and military support connections in Africa and South East Asia
• He has Used Hybrid warfare in Ukraine, and Information operations to his various audiences as following 4 myths:
• External  West: - the West cannot exist as it it as without Russia. Russia is the Yin to the West's Yang-all wars end in diplomatic solutions-Russia is relentless and will attack Ukraine until Ukraine stops fighting. (Myth 1)
• Internal Muscovy: You have a right to all Land with a Russian Speaker in it- Russian Culture is superior and will always prevail. People who are not Russians will be taught to act Russian because the culture is superior (Myth 2)
• "Traditional Russian conquered Lands" Russia is too strong to resist, allying with us earns you special treatment- If we you require us to conquer you we will do so, and then make it so your children do not even remember the name of the land before Russians conquered. (Myth 3)
• The US and Traditional Enemies : Russia needs you to exist so we we will always have a war to fight. We will continue to exploit your cultural weakness and divisions by information operations, since it has worked so well, so that you lose your resolve to oppose us until its too late (Myth 4)

How did it get to this?

The First Cold war ended when the Soviet Union Collapsed in 1990. In this vacuum, countries realigned, both Islamist and Iran backed Jihadist groups rose into what has been called the the "Long war". During this period from 1990 - 2000, a Former middle ranked KGB Agent rose up and wrote his version of  "Mein Kampf"(Hiller) called The World Order: a Game without Rules (Putin). He developed a concept called  "Russkiy Mir". In it, he he describes Russia and its role in the world, where Putin must expand Russian culture throughout the world, and then lay claim to every human who speaks Russian anywhere in the world. Putin and  Russia are setting the table to expand this conflict based on the assumptions from this Doctrine -He even  now uses the Russia Orthodox church as an instrument of Russkiy Mir..

What do we do now?

1. Recognize that this a long term deliberate plan, and that any Russian Claim to victimhood is a deception [Shows they are i a time of weakness and need a paus]
2. Recognize that Putin and Muscovey Russians do not feel any obligation to keep any commitment they make to any group, at any time, including their own people if it supports the expansion of Russkiy Mir. [Any negotiation is a temporary war tactic]
3. Acknowledge that Russia has already extracted the next generation of their armies from occupied Ukraine as children and has spread them across their 10 time zones to be taught to act like Russians (even though they can never be) be relentless in getting our children back
4. Oppose Russkiy Mir in all its forms - like their recent attempt to set up a Russian cultural center in Italy (Tag it, call it out, stalk it.)
5. Prepare our industrial base for a generation of Cold War II or invest in the destruction of Russia's ability to make war. Redesign war, develop the right organization
6. Fund Ukraine's War efforts now, as  a generation of Russians continue to impale themselves on Ukraine as demonstration of their manhood. Prepare our militaries for the next war, both technologically and tactically..

It does not matter that we do not want to go to or be at war. Putin's Russia decided 20 years ago that Russia is at war with us. Muscovey is already emotionally prepared to be at war. The West is not.

 

Smurfing Bots together

 

I believe Troll Farms are now Smurfing to avoid detection as observers work to identify Astroturfing networks.

Astroturfing is the Manipulation of social media algorithms so that the manipulator can make it appear that some information (or disinformation)  they plant is "going viral". Naturally going viral means the virtual world become interested in something in a very short amount of time. Astroturfing is a fake way of making something go viral so it looks everyone cares about it or believes it to be true even if it is disinformation.

 Astroturfing is one of the oldest forms of troll farm activity and is used in White, Gray and Black propaganda. But there has been study to watch and expose Black and gray propaganda  manipulators. 

In response to this watching Black and Gray Manipulators may have been trying to make it harder to find their astroturfing operations by using Smurfing tactics

In Money Laundering, smurfing  means using a network of many people making deposit amounts below reportable $ limits to by-pass regulators.

In Cyber DDOS Attacks in means networking together many unrelated computers to all Ping a website at the same time to overload it in a denial of service n attack.  

In Troll Farm operations, it means 

• building many small bots with a small amount of followers
• They keep adding small bot accounts together across many topics
• network them together by a controlling bot. 
• The controlling bot then drops in the Targeted disinformation and all the Smurf bots begin reposting liking the target information, and then reposting each other's posts until it looks like thousands of people are all repeating the same information - when in actuality its not people, its just Bots
• This makes real people and even news outlets take an interest in the disinformation
• as real people take over the Astroturfing bots would then go to sleep to stay hidden

There are astroturfing Bots that have up to hundreds of thousands of followers. After they get exposed, they often go dormant and begin the tedious process of rebuilding new follower accounts.

Smurfing networks may be harder to identify. One way to do that is to lower the follower threshold that AI uses to search for  Troll farm behavior