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,
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.
