Former Russian Troll Wins Lawsuit Against Propaganda "Factory"

An anonymous reader writes: Lyudmila Savchuk, a former Russian internet "troll" has been awarded one rouble ($0.01) in damages after she sued her ex-employer claiming it was a propaganda "factory". A Russian court ordered the secretive agency to pay her symbolic damages. Savchuk claims that she and her co-workers at Internet Research were paid to flood websites with pro-Putin commentary. The BBC reports: "Ms Savchuk said she was happy with the result because she had succeeded in exposing the work of Russia's internet 'trolls'. Russian media quoted a spokesman for Internet Research denying the accusations. The Kremlin says it has no links to Internet Research's operations. Since leaving the agency, Ms Savchuk has been organizing a public movement against online trolling."

Symbolically

[Anonymous Coward]

She gave her two cents and only got one in return.

A Common Tactic

[MagickalMyst]

Paying people to spread propaganda is not a new concept.

This is common in politics and other industries; and has been for some time now.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Israel kind of mastered this over the past 20 or so years

Re:

[Rei]

Israel's tack is usually different, they use more military censorship and pressure at home, while when trying to influence the US they use pressure groups like AIPAC and conservative Christian ally groups to pressure media organizations relentlessly on messaging that they don't like to encourage self-censorship.

Many countries have at various times used the technique of planting false stories in the media with fake grassroots groups promoting the message - Russia is hardly breaking new ground here. However,

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course Israel is doing this. Openly: http://thehigherlearning.com/2... [thehigherlearning.com] http://www.usatoday.com/story/... [usatoday.com] Anybody who pretends it is only 'bad guys' like Russia and not every major world power and also multinational corporations, are either deluded or shills themselves.

Re:

[Rei]

You clearly haven't read much about Internet Research Agency. What you linked to is not even remotely comparable.

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[drewlake2000]

There was a fantiatic piece in the Guardian a few months ago detailing exactly this kind of thing. http://www.theguardian.com/new... [theguardian.com]

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[fey000]

Just look at any forum when Microsoft releases something new.

Re:

[F.Ultra]

Agreed, I have actually found employment ads about that kind of work in election years.

Re:

[catchblue22]

I believe that it is common to have paid propaganda posters on newspapers and discussion boards such as Slashdot, especially on issues such as global warming. Some of my reasons for believing this are:

1) It is effective. It discourages the believers in particular causes, making them feel alone. It makes readers feel that the beliefs of the elite funders of the paid poster are actually the views of the common people.

2) It is a cost-effective way of reaching the eyeballs of particular and influential gro

Wow!

[LifesABeach]

I'm impressed she's still alive. IMO, trolling causes me to question the message giver, and get my content from another web site.

Re:Wow!

[Rei]

There was a truly excellent article [nytimes.com] on this "Internet Research Agency" group a while back. The ending is just brilliant.

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[supernova00]

Very long but great article!

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[Faust6]

Agreed, that was an excellent article.

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[Rei]

Lol, your reference is a satire site that starts off "Adrian Chen (aka Gaydrian Chen)" and that he's "a half-breed dwarf fresh out of community college" using "jew-gold rearing techniques"?

For those who want actual background... [wikipedia.org] Basically, there was for a period a Reddit war against him because he exposed [gawker.com] one of their moderators who ran a section peddling racy images of young girls, among many other kinds of nastiness.

Re:

[drewlake2000]

spotted! Note, the response "lol you're using x as a source" it is definitely from IRA, I've noticed that exact same on other pages that have discussed exactly the same thing, it's been used against me "lol your using vice as a source"... For example: here Rei makes a nice little post. The anonymous IRA goon does the standard format "lol, your using x" post to try and knock it down (not noting that it was the new york times, not the the national enquirer). Rei responds in kind, detailing why his post was

Re:

[drewlake2000]

The point isn't for you to question one news source, but for you to question all of them. They are so obvious and transparent in their lies, it's not propaganda, it's something even worse it's using media as a weapon to attack.

Seems odd

[Chrisq]

You would think that anyone paid to spread propaganda would know that they are doing it and be a willing participant.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

A liar may feel guilt and speak the truth, a True Believer will feel guilt for any time not spent spreading "truth."

Clearly a lying provocateur!

[rmdingler]

As everyone knows,

Comrade Putin is brave, honorable, and handsome.

Re:

[joeblog]

Anyone else find it suspicious how all posts like the above have been voted down?

This belongs here...

[wbr1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Not trolling

[Anonymous Coward]

When did the definition of "trolling" change? Trolling means that you post something solely to bait a response from someone. For example posting "There is no God" in a forum full of Catholics or "Obama is awesome" in a KKK forum. What they are talking about here is spreading propaganda.

I love this country

[PopeRatzo]

Thank god we don't have any propaganda factories here in the U S of A.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the USA is not quite the same as Russia.

In Russia, media is state owned. In the USA, the media and the state are owned by the same people. It is actually worse, but sounds better :)

Russian trolls?

[wonkey_monkey]

Do Russian trolls have another, slightly smaller Russian troll inside them?

Re:

[Coren22]

Someone will shoot her while she is out walking with her boyfriend in the snow. It will be ruled a horrible crime, and the parties involved will be moved somewhere less public where they will be handed envelopes filled with money.

Re:

[Coren22]

Troll for pointing out what happened to another critic of Putin?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2... [foxnews.com]
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-... [bbc.com]
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/27/... [cnn.com]

Or are we to believe that Putin's ordering of a criminal investigation will really find the people who did it who were widely believed to be acting on Putin's orders?

Re:

[Coren22]

This here is one of the Russian trolls. It is all a western conspiracy to devalue Russian principles!

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[mirix]

But KPRF and LDPR are not pro-western yes men, so they don't count!

I guess you need to go down to parties with zero popular support to find one that aligns with US dreams for russia.

It's funny they never report that batshit-insane Zhironovsky*, has 12 times the support, and communists have 20x. That's how unelectable these people the US roots for are.

*some selected examples:
- expressed a desire to reunite countries of the ex-Soviet "near abroad" with Russia to within the Russia's borders of 1900 (including

It's funny how that works

[stevenm86]

Ironically, recent US actions have done far more for pro-Putin suppor sentiment than any of his propaganda efforts.

"Moral damages"?

[jfengel]

TFS doesn't say exactly what she was suing over. TFA says she "sued the secretive company for alleged moral damages, non-payment of wages and for failing to give workers proper contracts".

So, I'm puzzled. If she was due wages, she should have gotten more than one rouble. I'm not sure of the compensation for failing to give proper contracts; it sounds like it's something akin to violating an oral contract.

What are moral damages? A quick Google doesn't turn up much; it sounds like a legal concept not used in the US. Can anybody enlighten me?