The history of cyber “Trolls” began long before the 2016 election and was in effect in 2014 and employed by the Russians. The members of the GRU intelligence organization created “fake news” and propaganda against those journalist and their media outlets to defuse the Russian government actions in Crimea or the shootdown of flight MH17. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-2835 The murder of political figures and journalist caused the Russian agents to create stories about the killing or false reports about their personal life or family members.
In 2015 there was an evolution by Russia to fully develop a multiple purpose plan of online attacks using, social media tools like twitter, facebook, google, and others. The Russian RT or https://www.rt.com/ produced broadcasts and published stories to support the Kremlins actions. The emergence of the IRA (Internet Research Agency noted in 2016 for the involvement in the 2016 election ) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The organization became a significant part of this operation. They created fake accounts on social media sites, developed discussion boards on newspapers, and hosting services. The Rise of the Farms The IRA created a process where Bloggers, Hackers, and web developers could work at directed, planned attacks or different targets. In Eastern Europe countries like Finland, the Russians attacked the media and journalist on the coverage of Crimea and Putin. The propaganda was intended to silence the questions about this action and portrayal of Putin. The attacks challenged publications journalist like Jessikka Aro of Finland who was attacked by them as a Racist and had emails sent to the leaders of Finland. Jessika wrote several articles on the Russian Trolls and their attempts to cover up the flight. She had infiltrated the Troll farm, and this allowed her to view videos and expose them to America. The Russians began to use social media as memes to claim that she produced “fake news.” She received infected emails as phishing and RT questioned her articles for truth. In an article published on https://kioski.yle.fi Aro reveals the daily assaults by the Russian Trolls from the IRA but she also provided a solution to this attack. She documented their methods and actual tweets and media sources. She openly challenged all of them, unlike most who did not respond. She exposed Russian RT by forcing them to prove what they reported about her. How can we be aggressive against the Trolls?
The road map of methods used by Jessika Aro against the Russians is what is needed. Social Media will need to remove Troll sites proactively, and the U.S. law enforcement will need to work with foreign governments to learn what Troll activity is happening in their country.