|
The web brigades ((ロシア語:Веб-бригады)), commonly known in English media as the troll army, are state-sponsored Internet sockpuppetry groups linked to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Russia This Week: Here Comes the Kremlin’s Troll Army (2-7 June) )〕 They are suspected to be organized teams and groups of commentators that participate in Russian and international political blogs and Internet forums using sockpuppets and large-scale orchestrated trolling and disinformation campaigns to promote pro-Putin and pro-Russian propaganda.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Kremlin's Troll Army )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Russia's Online-Comment Propaganda Army )〕 It has also been secured that Wikipedia articles were among the targeted platforms and were manipulated by the Russian internet propaganda activities.〔http://gizmodo.com/a-tweetbot-caught-the-russian-govt-editing-flight-mh17-1607483459〕〔http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/07/21/flight_mh17s_wikipedia_page_edited_from_ip_address_associated_with_putins_office.html〕〔http://calvertjournal.com/comment/show/2967/wikipedia-russian-government-edits〕 ==Background== The earliest documented allegations of the existence of "web brigades" appear to be in the April 2003 Vestnik Online article "The Virtual Eye of Big Brother" by a French journalist Anna Polyanskaya (a former assistant to assassinated Russian politician Galina Starovoitova〔 ("They are killing Galina Starovoitova for the second time" ), by Anna Polyansky〕) and two other authors, Andrey Krivov and Ivan Lomako. The authors claim that up to 1998, contributions to forums on Russian Internet sites (Runet) predominantly reflected liberal and democratic values, but after 2000, the vast majority of contributions reflected totalitarian values. This sudden change was attributed to the appearance of teams of pro-Russian commenters who seem to be organized by the Russian state security service.〔(''Virtual Eye of the Big Brother'' ) by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, April 30, 2003〕〔Vestnik online, April 30, 2003〕〔 (''Eye for an eye'' ) by Grigory Svirsky and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of the Russian Center for Extreme Journalism ()〕 According to authors, about 70% of audience of Russian Internet were people of generally liberal views prior to 1998–1999, however sudden surge (about 60–80%) of "antidemocratic" posts suddenly occurred at many Russian forums in 2000. In January 2012, a hacktivist group calling itself the Russian arm of Anonymous have published a massive collection of email allegedly belonging to former and present leaders of the pro-Kremlin youth organization Nashi (including a number of government officials).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Polishing Putin: hacked emails suggest dirty tricks by Russian youth group )〕 Journalists investigation into the leaked information found that the pro-Kremlin movement had been engaging in all kinds of digital activities, including paying commentators to post content and hijacking blog ratings in the fall of 2011.〔 ("Kremlin's Blogshop" ) by Anastasia Karimova. Kommersant Dengi, February 13, 2012〕〔 The e-mails indicate that members of the "brigades" were paid 85 rubles (about 3 US dollars) or more per comment, depending on whether the comment received replies; some were paid as much as 600,000 roubles (£12,694) for leaving hundreds of comments on negative press articles on the internet; and were presented with iPads. A number of high-profile bloggers were also mentioned as being paid for promoting Nashi's and government activities. The Federal Youth Agency whose head (and the former leader of Nashi) Vasily Yakemenko was the highest-ranking individual targeted by the leaks refused to comment on authenticity of the e-mails.〔〔 ("Kommersant Director General Files Complain against Nashi Spokesperson" ). Izvestia, February 9, 2012.〕 In 2013, a Freedom House report stated that Russia has been using paid pro-government commentators to manipulate online discussions and has been at the forefront of this practice for several years.〔()〕〔(Russia's Online-Comment Propaganda Army ), ''The Atlantic'', by Olga Khazan, 9 October 2013〕 In 2013, Russian reporters' investigation into the St. Petersburg Internet Research Agency, which employs at least 400 people, that covertly hired young people as "Internet operators" that are being paid to write pro-Kremlin postings and comments on the Internet, smearing opposition leader Alexei Navalny and U.S. politics and culture.〔("Internet Troll Operation Uncovered in St. Petersburg" ), ''The St. Petersburg Times'', by Sergey Chernov, 18, September,2013〕〔(Ukraine conflict: Inside Russia's 'Kremlin troll army' ), BBC〕 Some Russian opposition journalists point out that such practices creates a chilling effect on the few independent media outlets that remain in the country.〔 Further investigations were performed by ''Novaya Gazeta'' and Institute of Modern Russia in 2014–15, inspired by the peak of activity of the pro-Russian brigades during war in Donbass and assassination of Boris Nemtsov. The effort of using "troll armies" to promote Putin's policies is a multimillion-dollar operation.〔 〕 According to The Guardian investigation the flood of pro-Russian comments is part of a coordinated "informational-psychological war operation". One Twitter bots network was documented to use over 20'500 fake Twitter accounts to spam hateful comments after assassination of Boris Nemtsov and events related to the war in Donbass. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Web brigades」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|