Jessikka Aro - Putins Trolls: On the Frontlines of Russias Information War Against the World

PUTINS TROLLS

ON THE FRONTLINES OF RUSSIAS INFORMATION WAR AGAINST THE WORLD

Jessikka Aro

2022 by Jessikka Aro.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher. Please direct inquiries to:

Ig Publishing
Box 2547
New York, NY 10163
www.igpub.com

ISBN: 978-1632461-30-8 (ebook)

This book is dedicated to the strong women in my family.

To my grandmother Mannukka, who volunteered to monitor the skies as a teenager, and protected Finland from the Soviet warplanes.

To my other grandmother Hilja, who escaped the Soviet occupiers from Karelia and never let her mind be occupied.

To my mother Hilkka, who is so full of love.

To my sister Pipsa, the Supreme Being.

To my aunts Kaisu and Ritu, who showed me how Finnish freedom of expression ought to be used.

I FLED MY HOMELAND OF FINLAND in February 2017. Just before my escape, I gave a presentation on the dangers posed by Russian propaganda and fake news at the National Police Board of Finland in Helsinki.

In school I was taught that Finland was one of the safest countries in the world. But for me, an ordinary journalist for Yleisradio, or Yle, the Finnish national public broadcasting company, the basic right to safety in my home country had been severely compromised simply because of my profession.

By the time of my forced departure, I had endured a two-and-a-half-year campaign of death threats and libelous news articles. Online hate sites had brainwashed even some of my friends, turning them into enemies. These same sites portrayed me as a criminal, a liar, and mentally ill. Anonymous users suggested various methods of killing myself. One stranger proposed that I hang myself, while another recommended a Russian suicide: someone would push me under the metro, but in a manner staged as self-inflicted. A third individual wished that someone would put a bullet in the whores head, Russian style. Each time I opened my laptop, or glanced at my phone, I was forced to read snuff fantasies about me produced on an assembly-line scale. I was afraid that the psychological violence would spill out of the internet into the physical world. I installed an alarm system and other security measures in my home.

I had become the target of such vitriol for one reason only: I was a journalist investigating Russian social media information warfare.

When I launched what would become my world-famous investigation into Russian online propaganda trolls in September 2014, I was thirty-three years old. My life was serene, and I dreamed of starting a family. I had no enemies that I knew of, and aroused no interest from anyone in the online world.

As a journalist, I specialized in Russia and extremist groups. Earlier in my career I had lived in Russia, and throughout President Vladimir Putins time in office, I had kept an eye on the pressure exerted on journalists, including retribution via violence and murder. The reporters who risked their lives investigating his regimes wrongdoings were my professional idols.

While I had previously investigated jihadists recruitment activities on social media, as well as organized crime, it wasnt until I began examining the Kremlins tools of international information warfare that a hate campaign was launched against me. The harassers wanted to exhaust me psychologically, hoping that I would ultimately decide to protect myself and cease investigating and publicly discussing Russian operations.

In my work as a journalist, I had become accustomed to extreme and violent material. I had reported on wars, natural disasters, plane crashes, and human rights crimes. But nothing had prepared me for the uncontrollable online spread of thousands of defamatory memes, threads, pictures, and videosall about me!

Before I left Finland, I did everything in my power to put an end to the witch hunt, or at least limit its crippling impact on my life. I reported to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube those accounts that violated the community standards outlined in their terms of service. The companies automated responses declared that the content did not violate their community standardseven though it was crystal clear that it did. In effect, these media giants were happy to offer their services as platforms for what amounted to state-sponsored propaganda and hate speech.

I implored Finnish security officials for help. I cried my frustration out to a police officer, who told me that no legislation provided the tools to stop the crimes I was enduring. The only avenue available was filing criminal complaints, which would take years to process in court. Online propagandists skillfully abuse Western laws and legal systems, which are inadequate for meeting the challenges of organized online hate dissemination. I anticipated that even police scrutiny would not guarantee an end to these crimes.

Unfortunately, I was right.

As the police launched their investigation, many of the officers themselves were libeled and targeted online. Confidential police documents were published, and as the investigations continued, fake news sites accused me of launching a bogus investigation, which incited more angry attacks. I tried lobbying the Finnish government, and proposed legislative changes to more effectively counter the Russian information warfare. As a result, I was again abused and shamed.

In addition to the police, I turned to my employer, Yle, for assistance. The employers responsibility is to protect its employees, while the duty of the police is to solve crimes. I trusted both. I believed that one day the propagandists would be held accountable. All I had to do was stay safe until then.

Time passed, yet nothing stopped the Mafia-like internet gang or their mission to destroy my credibility, professional reputation, and life. The alarm systems in my home couldnt protect me from the parade of online slander, which had succeeded in influencing thousands of people against me.

I was left with two options.

Either continue investigating Russian information warfare and educating people, and, in so doing, remain subject to stalkingboth physical and onlineand other crimes.

Or stop investigating the topic, withdraw from public lifeand likely be left alone.

I understood that the architects of my persecution were manipulating me toward the latter option. However, out of respect for the journalistic profession and my home country, I chose to continue my work. Had I ceased to report on Russian online propaganda, I would have broken my fundamental promise to the public. A journalists duty is to convey factual information to readers, listeners, and viewers. If, out of fear, I had halted my investigations into Kremlin trolls and fake news, I would have denied my audience its universal human right to receive the truth.

I discovered that Russian social media disinformation threatened civic discussion and national security in several countries. I therefore tried to warn the public of Russias ambitions to shift the political atmosphere in its favor, as well as showing how it was taking advantage of social media companies in order to meddle in the affairs of the West.

Events following my warnings proved that I was right. In 2016, Russian social media trolls attacked the US presidential election and Britains referendum to leave the European Union; promoted Catalan independence from Spain; and fueled violence in France during the yellow vest protests.