Research Project Conclusions

 I. 

1. Troll Farms are a subset of the Information Space
2. Troll Farms are diverse in their objectives, their Resources, and  how they work with their trolls.
3. It is natural next step response to social media 1.0
4. Good guys and bad guys use troll Farms
5. Troll Farms  can be businesses
6. Troll Farms are sometimes offered as services by Data and Tech firms
7. They use a growing set of  common tools, tactics, and they learn from each other
8. They work like cockroaches - when the light is turned on and they are exposed their effectiveness is GREATLY diminished
9. How do you distinguish between ethical troll Farms (like Fan clubs with vast memberships and social media presence) and unethical troll farms ( state owned )

All of these activities, including troll farm types, all the players, paid and unpaid, useful idiots who don't even know they are being used, the countries, the governments, the good guys the bad guys - thinking about them alone is to too small to grasp this phenomenon.

•  I guess I'm saying hunting trolls is Fun, but understanding who hires and or operates troll armies, and why  they do it is more important in 2024

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Level II Synthesis of research

1. Information and Influence Operations have grown to become sophisticated tools and have been in operation for almost 20 years, but momentum since Covid is 5-10X what is was in the beginning'
2. Totalitarian Countries have a century or more of developing and funding techniques that they simply moved into the current age-so they are miles ahead of Liberal Democracies
3. Trolls, Troll farms are already evolving into 3.0, which have begun to integrate AI.
4. They are diverse- some look look factories, some look like clubs, some look like oneline groups. From the outsider looking ibn it looks impossible to whether they trolls are Paid or unpaid due to informal funding methods
5. Some are ideologically driven, some are post-moral funding driven,
6. They often work hand in hand with Cyber operations
7. Military and political strategy tools may be useful in developing counter-operators solutions

Level III Synthesis of research

SWOT for Information Operations

S

• Effective and persuasive right now
• Low dollar cost
• 
  

Ideas toward a Solution:

1. Define what is an Ethical information operating Group

1. A set of  Industry ethics and guidelines including labeling and