Russian state-sponsored Internet commentators
Russian web brigades ,[a] also called Russian trolls , Russian bots , Kremlinbots , or Kremlin trolls are state-sponsored anonymous Internet political commentators and trolls linked to the Government of Russia .[1] [2] Participants report that they are organized into teams and groups of commentators that participate in Russian and international political blogs and Internet forums using sockpuppets , social bots , and large-scale orchestrated trolling and disinformation campaigns to promote pro-Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian propaganda .[1] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Kremlin trolls are closely tied to the Internet Research Agency , a Saint Petersburg-based company run by Yevgeny Prigozhin , who was a close ally to Putin and head of the mercenary Wagner Group , known for committing war crimes before his death in 2023.[7] Articles on the Russian Wikipedia concerning the MH17 crash and the Russo-Ukrainian War were targeted by Russian internet propaganda outlets.[1] [8] [9] [10] In June 2019, a group of 12 editors introducing coordinated pro-government and anti-opposition bias was blocked on the Russian-language Wikipedia.[11] During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kremlin trolls were still active on many social platforms and were spreading disinformation related to the war events .[12]
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^ a b c Stukal, Denis; Sanovich, Sergey; Bonneau, Richard; Tucker, Joshua A. (February 2022). "Why Botter: How Pro-Government Bots Fight Opposition in Russia" (PDF) . American Political Science Review . 116 (1). Cambridge and New York : Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association : 843–857. doi :10.1017/S0003055421001507 . ISSN 1537-5943 . LCCN 08009025 . OCLC 805068983 . S2CID 247038589 . Retrieved 10 March 2022 .
^ Sultan, Oz (Spring 2019). "Tackling Disinformation, Online Terrorism, and Cyber Risks into the 2020s". The Cyber Defense Review . 4 (1). West Point, New York : Army Cyber Institute : 43–60. ISSN 2474-2120 . JSTOR 26623066 .
^ Shaun Walker (2 April 2015). "Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house" . the Guardian .
^ Paul Gallagher (27 March 2015). "Revealed: Putin's army of pro-Kremlin bloggers" . The Independent .
^ Daisy Sindelar (12 August 2014). "The Kremlin's Troll Army" . The Atlantic .
^ Olga Khazan (9 October 2013). "Russia's Online-Comment Propaganda Army" . The Atlantic .
^ "Wagner boss Prigozhin confirmed dead in plane crash - Moscow" . 27 August 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2024 .
^ Sorokanich, Robert (18 July 2014). "A Tweetbot Caught the Russian Gov't Editing Flight MH17 Wikipedia Info" . Retrieved 3 December 2016 .
^ Dewey, Caitlin (21 July 2014). "Flight MH17's Wikipedia page edited by Russian government; An IP address associated with Vladimir Putin's office has made multiple edits to the Wikipedia page for the MH17 flight page" . Toronto Star . The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 August 2016 .
^ Zeveleva, Olga (6 August 2014). "Knowledge is power: why is the Russian government editing Wikipedia?" . The Calvert Journal . Retrieved 3 December 2016 .
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