Putin's Trolls

April 11, 2022
Finnish journalist Aro takes a chilling and timely look at how the Kremlin’s “political technologists” have transformed Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube into “psychological weapons of mass destruction.” After publishing a story about Russian troll networks in September 2014, Aro became the target of coordinated attacks by anonymous online commentators, fake news sites, and pro-Kremlin propagandists. She interweaves her own account of receiving threatening messages, having her identity stolen numerous times, and seeing her professional reputation damaged with the experiences of others who have been targeted by Kremlin disinformation campaigns, including a Lithuanian diplomat forced to resign after edited recordings of his phone calls were uploaded to YouTube, Ukrainian journalists covering Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and a Serbian political analyst who sought to expose Russia’s “hostile influence operations in the Balkans.” Throughout, Aro warns that Western laws and legal systems “are inadequate for meeting the challenges of organized online hate dissemination,” and bluntly criticizes Big Tech for ignoring its own community standards in order to profit off of “state-sponsored propaganda and hate speech.” Though occasionally repetitive, Aro’s cri de coeur is well-documented and persuasive. This disturbing study does a stellar job of depicting Russia’s propaganda machine in action.

Starred review from May 6, 2022

In her first book, journalist Aro details the dangers Russia's information warfare, driven by Vladimir Putin, poses worldwide. Finland, an independent nation, borders Russia and has a long and complicated relationship with its powerful neighbor. After reporting on cyber warfare and Russia's concerted effort to influence public opinion in other countries for Yleisradio (the Finnish national public broadcasting company), Aro was in the crosshairs of Russia's troll army. Her investigations were denounced and her professional reputation was questioned. Her personal information was published and her life was threatened, until she left Finland for her own safety. Aro describes the experiences of a Lithuanian diplomat, a Norwegian journalist, a Swedish academic, the Serbian head of a pro-Western think tank, a Crimean journalist, and American-born businessman Bill Browder, all of whom have been targeted by Russian-generated online smear campaigns. Like Browder's Red Notice, this book opens a window into the megalomaniacal plans of Putin and convincingly shows that this danger is real, worldwide, and not being addressed by governments or the social media behemoths that allow it to spread. VERDICT Very timely for anyone who uses social media or who follows American, Russian and worldwide politics.--Laurie Unger Skinner

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2022
Timely expos� of Russia's vast disinformation campaign from a Finnish journalist persecuted for her persistent reporting of its brazen abuses. In this important, firsthand account of Russian malfeasance, Aro shows how she has suffered personally and professionally during her diligent quest to expose the rampant social media incursions orchestrated by Putin and his minions. Her work is especially telling in terms of Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and implementation of its online "troll factory," which meddled significantly in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Though the author had experience reporting on right-wing and extremist groups, "it wasn't until I began examining the Kremlin's tools of international information warfare that a hate campaign was launched against me." She uncovered Russian cyberattacks as early as 2008, during the two-week war between Russia and Georgia. Years later, she interviewed Andrei Illarionov, one of Putin's former aides, who provided useful, disturbing information about Russia's deployment of psychological warfare in Ukraine. The author also reported on a well-known troll factory in St. Petersburg in 2013. Throughout this book, Aro reveals the mechanics of Russia's insidious nonmilitary tactics and widespread propaganda targeted at civilians--strategies used decades before in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to gain control over the minds of citizens. Due to her intrepid investigations, the author was forced to leave her home country of Finland in 2017. Though many Western media outlets failed to provide adequate protection, in 2019, the U.S. Department of State gave her the International Women of Courage Award--before rescinding it due to her criticism of Donald Trump. Although parts of the narrative may be overly detailed for general readers, the author is to be commended for both her journalism and for her creation of a damning portrait of Putin and his autocratic, manipulative regime. As Russia continues to threaten Ukraine in hybrid warfare, Aro provides an extremely valuable lesson.

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