Following in the footsteps of other former employees, more of the Kremlin`s online army are now coming forward to tell their stories of working 12-hour shifts in Russia`s most controversial office, according to The Moscow Times.
”Yes, Russian trolls did target the U.S. elections,” The Moscow Times wrote citing a former troll who spoke to a Russian outlet Bumaga.
”We wrote about 200 comments and 20 news posts for various fake pages each day. At the `factory,` there were many different teams writing on different topics and targeting different websites. At the end of 2016, I know for sure that there were departments dedicated to the Ukrainian crisis and the U.S. elections. Due to my disclosure agreement, I can`t really talk about which department I worked for,” the renegade ”troll” said.
See also: Lithuanian special unit will combat Kremlin trolls online
He added that the ”team” were paid enough for the economic crisis not to affect them.
”A professional troll should have a good sense of the people they are communicating with, and should fully realize what reactions they will get,” he said. ”And, most importantly, trolls shouldn`t lose their creativity: inventing something new to write every day is incredibly difficult.”
He suggests that the ideal Internet troll would be a State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov.
”Everything he says and does is almost dreamlike in its insanity. Take his recent bill punishing anyone who attends opposition rallies. Madness. And it`s all just fluff, because no one took it seriously,” he said.
So Milonov agitated Russia`s liberals public and raised the authority of the government among Navalny`s fans.
”He practically used the logic and methods of a troll,” the former employee of the Russian troll factory said.
Surprisingly, he concludes that ”our work doesn`t bring great harm on to everyone.”
”Personally, I believe our work doesn`t bring results at all, and especially not the results which our backers hope for. No one believes in our posts: not us, and not our readers. Trolls argue with trolls. It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of people simply do not pay any attention to these kinds of comments,” he said.
See also: Finding asymmetric responses: cyberspace in hybrid war
