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| What spawned Russia's 'troll army'? Experts on the red web answer your questions | What spawned Russia's 'troll army'? Experts on the red web answer your questions |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| 8.07am BST08:07 | |
| 'That troll factories exist was not a surprise to most Moscow correspondents' | |
| Shaun Walker | |
| The discovery that Russian “troll factories” exist was not a surprise to most Moscow correspondents. For some time we had noticed the long list of comments under almost everything we wrote, often in semi-coherent English claiming to be from people with traditional British names. | |
| This is not to say that all the angry comments below the line are from paid trolls, far from it. Over the past two years, the Ukraine crisis and Russia more generally has become one of those polarised issues, such as Israel/Palestine. | |
| One story can simultaneously be denounced as disgusting Russophobic slander ordered up by the CIA and pro-Putin filth written by a Kremlin shill. Both sides never tire of comparing the other to the Nazis. Angry “pro-Russian” feedback is significantly higher than the level of angry “pro-Ukrainian” feedback, but both can be equally baffling. | |
| Related: Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house | |
| Good journalism points out problems, abuses and painful moments, and this will always be controversial. But due to a lack of strong, independent media in Russia, the immediate assumption is that coverage of difficult issues in Russia in the Guardian, for example, is part of a nefarious geo-political conspiracy. | |
| The worst part about trolling is it makes it hard to be open to genuine criticism. Journalists’ articles are by definition a selective compilation of relevant facts and opinions; and there’s almost always room for constructive feedback. But when every genuine engagement is buried between 100 semi-literate insults from paid trolls or partisan readers selectively processing information, the easiest thing to do is ignore it , which is a shame. | |
| Shaun Walker, Moscow correspondent, the Guardian | |
| 8.06am BST08:06 | |
| 'It’s hard to know who to trust and what is real' | |
| Marc Burrows | |
| Russian propaganda posted in the comment section is a constant issue for our team: steering threads off topic, undermining genuine conversation and preventing regular readers from enjoying a focused and informed discussion. | |
| We know it happens, but stamping down on it is difficult. Unlike other coordinated trolling and spam we see on the site, which is relatively easy to spot, the Russian contingent is fairly sophisticated.They mask IP addresses, use false locations and create accounts that seem legitimate. We know to look for specific tropes in language but these change regularly, making the false posts tricky to weed out. | |
| The most difficult challenge is that the “trolls” aren’t the only voices expressing these opinions. The propaganda of Russian state media is very effective and many commenters legitimately seem to post the same comments as the teams of paid online commenters.. | |
| The most frustrating consequence of this is the atmosphere of distrust it fosters below the line. The most toxic conversations become bad parodies of a 70s cold war thriller, where everyone is a double agent. It’s hard to know who to trust and what is real – which, of course, is the point. | |
| Marc Burrows, the Guardian’s senior community moderator | |
| 8.03am BST08:03 | |
| 'Venture below the line at your peril' | |
| Luke Harding | |
| Like everyone writing regularly about Russia, I have found myself on the receiving end of some heavy trolling. Perhaps this is understandable. I spent four years in Russia as the Guardian’s Moscow correspondentwhere I reported on themes the Kremlin considers taboo: Putin’s wealth, top-level government corruption and Alexander Litvinenko, amongst other things. | |
| In February 2011 the FSB put me on a blacklist and I was thrown out of the country. | |
| Even so, I’ve been taken aback by the remorseless and ingenious methods of paid Russian trolls. | |
| In 2011, I noticed that someone had set up a fake twitter account in my name. I’m @lukeharding1968. My Twitter clone was @Iukeharding1968 – with an upper case “i” at the beginning instead – had taken my Twitter photograph and bio, tweeting Kremlin press releases at a furious rate. | |
| I contacted Twitter in San Francisco and they killed my clone. Then, like an army of zombies rising from the dead, I gained 21 more – each with my face – ranging from @lukeharding1960 upwards. | |
| Related: Game of trolls: the hip digi-kids helping Putin's fight for online supremacy | |
| Then there is “below the line”, a place you only venture at your peril. Last year, while reporting on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, my dispatches attracted over 2,000 reader comments a day. | |
| Of these, I would estimate 1,200 were vehemently pro-Putin and about 400 were personal abuse.. The same pattern each time: I was a pathological Russophobe, a CIA spy or an MI6 operative. Sometimes all three. | |
| I believe in different viewpoints, rational debate, evidence-led argument. What I find depressing about trolling is there is no point in engaging with your critics. Since trolls are not real, and their opinions are fake. | |
| Luke Harding, foreign correspondent, the Guardian | |
| 4.39pm BST16:39 | 4.39pm BST16:39 |
| The rise of Russia's 'troll army' | The rise of Russia's 'troll army' |
| Maeve Shearlaw | Maeve Shearlaw |
| Reports on the workings of Russian ‘troll factories’ – formerly only on the radar of journalists critical of the regime – have become commonplace in recent months. | Reports on the workings of Russian ‘troll factories’ – formerly only on the radar of journalists critical of the regime – have become commonplace in recent months. |
| Evidence has emerged suggesting companies deploy workforces to post pro-government comments over the internet. Western media outlets have reported a huge increase in the volume and viciousness of comments under articles about Russia, and activist Lyudmila Savchuk – once on the payroll of the The Agency for Internet Studies – recently took her former employer to court in an attempt to “prove that trolls exist”. | Evidence has emerged suggesting companies deploy workforces to post pro-government comments over the internet. Western media outlets have reported a huge increase in the volume and viciousness of comments under articles about Russia, and activist Lyudmila Savchuk – once on the payroll of the The Agency for Internet Studies – recently took her former employer to court in an attempt to “prove that trolls exist”. |
| Testimonies from the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, a former Moscow correspondent and the head of our moderation team paint a picture of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of abuse, which they all agree has intensified since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began. | Testimonies from the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, a former Moscow correspondent and the head of our moderation team paint a picture of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of abuse, which they all agree has intensified since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began. |
| Related: The Red Web by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan review – Russia’s attack on internet freedoms | Related: The Red Web by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan review – Russia’s attack on internet freedoms |
| Their experiences will put in to context for us by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two Russian journalists who have followed their government’s behaviour in the online space since the early days of digital media. | Their experiences will put in to context for us by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two Russian journalists who have followed their government’s behaviour in the online space since the early days of digital media. |
| The pair have recently released the Red Web, a book that examines everything from Edward Snowden – who they say inadvertently helped Putin’s crackdown on internet freedoms – to the details about the spying tools the government use. | The pair have recently released the Red Web, a book that examines everything from Edward Snowden – who they say inadvertently helped Putin’s crackdown on internet freedoms – to the details about the spying tools the government use. |
| Any questions? | Any questions? |
| Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan will join us for a live Q&A today, Tuesday 8 September, between 1-2pm London (3pm-4pm Moscow) to answer your questions about trolls and the Russian internet. | Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan will join us for a live Q&A today, Tuesday 8 September, between 1-2pm London (3pm-4pm Moscow) to answer your questions about trolls and the Russian internet. |
| Use the comment section below to post your questions, tweet them at @GuardianNewEast or email maeve.shearlaw@theguardian.com | Use the comment section below to post your questions, tweet them at @GuardianNewEast or email maeve.shearlaw@theguardian.com |
| Updated at 4.41pm BST | Updated at 4.41pm BST |