According to experts from the Center for the Study of Crime and Security at Cardiff University in British Wales, Russian trolls have once again "noted" in the implementation of propaganda operations through the Western media.
According to the study, attackers infiltrated comments under the news of well-known news sites in an attempt to influence the opinions of other users.
The main such operation targeted 32 online media outlets in 16 countries, including the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, Fox News and The Washington Post. In addition to them, the troll attack touched the French Le Figaro, the German Der Spiegel and Die Welt, as well as the Italian La Stampa. The commentary sections on the portals of these publications were literally occupied by pro-Kremlin trolls seeking to manipulate public opinion.
The team of experts identified 242 stories in which provocative pro-Russian or anti-Western statements were published in response to facts related to Russia. Then, according to the researchers, these comments were passed on to a number of Russian-language media, which used them as the basis for their publications.
In particular, they emphasized the alleged support of the Kremlin's policies by Western society or dissatisfaction with Western governments. The basis for such conclusions was the collected "likes" under the propaganda posts.
For example, the Internet portal InoSMI, which is part of the state media holding Rossiya Segodnya, published a publication with a headline that included a comment under the article by The Times
Then such publications were distributed on social networks and on various sites, including those associated with the Russian special services, the authors of the report say. Although some "propaganda" comments on social media were posted on behalf of Westerners, researchers found signs in their accounts that they were acting as part of a disinformation campaign.
A study of the profiles of the accounts with pro-Kremlin comments also revealed that some of these users are constantly changing their name and their location.
This propaganda has been increasingly active since 2018. Recently, the focus of attention of the pro-Kremlin trolls has been, in particular, the withdrawal of US and British troops from Afghanistan.
Martin Innes, director of the Center for the Study of Crime and Security at Cardiff University, emphasizes that it is very easy to create an account and quickly start posting comments on some sites without any identity checks. He believes that this "vulnerability" can be used not only by individual politicians, but also by "anyone else" in order to manipulate public opinion.
According to Innes, in 2014-2018, social networks were used primarily to spread Russian propaganda: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and others. However, after the security systems of social networks were improved and mechanisms for combating disinformation appeared, the activity of pro-Kremlin trolls in this segment decreased, and they focused on commenting on publications in the media, Martin Innes said.
One account was found to have changed location 69 times and name 549 times since it was created last June. Some media websites allow readers to vote on comments, and researchers say pro-Kremlin comments received an unexpectedly high number of yes votes.
Russia has consistently denied any involvement in propaganda and disinformation operations.
