Russia flexes muscles online through trolling: journalist
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
20.09.2017 11:21
Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro has told Poland’s state broadcaster TVP that Russia was showing off its strength online by using “trolling” to intimidate, slander and disseminate propaganda.
Photo: anestiev/pixabay.com (CC0)
Aro said Russian trolls – who post inflammatory on inappropriate comments online with an aim of provoking a response or upsetting someone else – and propaganda were influencing public opinion in the West, as well as trying to affect the daily lives of ordinary people and influence politicians.
She claimed to be the target of trolling campaign which started three years ago and included fake news stories suggesting she had been a drug dealer.
Aro said the trolling has affected her relationships and that she gets threatening text messages from former friends.
She added that trolling has long been used by Russian special services and “so-called useful idiots in the West” to promote Russia’s interests by undermining critics and opponents. (vb/pk)
Source: wPolityce