That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It - Rolling Stone

Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry... We’ve spent the past two years studying online disinformation and building a deep understanding of Russia’s strategy, tactics, and impact...to develop procedures to identify disinformation campaigns...

Professional trolls... have studied us... know you catch more flies with honey... go to social media ... looking for new best friends... Disinformation operations aren’t typically fake news or outright lies... most often simply spin... hard to spot and easy to believe...

it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft... view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper... manipulate our emotions subtly... not overtly hateful... aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge ... where religiosity and ideology meet... in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart...

Effective disinformation is embedded in an account you agree with. The professionals don’t push you away, they pull you toward them... While tweeting uplifting messages... also highlighted issues of race and gender inequality... these tweets point to valid issues of concern... framed to serve Russia’s interests in undermining Americans’ trust in our institutions.... attacked moderate politicians ... bolstering more polarizing candidates... attack issues from both sides to drive mainstream viewpoints in polar and extreme directions...

accept that bad actors will try to take advantage of our openness... shouldn’t believe or repost anonymous users because they used the same hashtag ... nor accuse them of being a Russian bot simply because we disagree... We need to teach digital civility...weaken foreign efforts... help us better engage online with our neighbors, especially the ones we disagree with... if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy.