How are the "troll factories" organized and how much are their employees paid

In recent years, the number of trolls on the web has been growing rapidly. Last but not least, this is due to the fact that trolling has gradually turned from entertainment into an information weapon. "Troll factories" that leave millions of paid comments are operating all over the world. But most of them are in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. How are these associations organized and how much do their employees earn?

"Troll factories" have long been a political tool. It is likely that no political campaign in developed countries can do without them today. Bot Farms are assigned to form certain opinions, discredit opponents and simply confuse people's thoughts, confusing them, making them doubt and simply misinforming.

For a long time, organized trolling was an unexplored phenomenon. But in the fall of 2019, a group of journalists conducted a serious investigation. Representatives of the press, under the guise of ordinary users, got a job at several such factories in Russia and Ukraine and studied their work.

During the investigation, the journalists worked in PR agencies. Their tasks included writing "custom" comments from fake accounts in social networks and forums. The result of this implementation was publications in Investigate Europe, as well as a documentary about the work of factories in Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

A bot is a fake account. But trolls and bot breeders are people working on a bot farm.

At the origins of the dirty work of the "troll factories" was the first campaign of this kind from Of Russia. This is the already legendary "Internet Research Agency" from Olgino in St. Petersburg. Now the expression "Olginsky troll" has become a household name and this is not for nothing.

PR agency from For the first time, St. Petersburg became a team whose activities were not limited to the territory of its own country. Before that, such organizations did not have a large scale and served local customers. They were engaged in certain local tasks and did not meddle in foreign policy.

The "Olga trolls" began to operate at the international level and shamelessly climb into political processes in other countries. The most famous action was the intervention of the Internet Research Agency in the US presidential election in 2016. A large-scale investigation of the American special prosecutor Robert Mueller is devoted to his work.

Trolls from Olgino use a wide arsenal of tools in their work. Instagram Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube are the Russian-language social network Vkontakte and international ones. In Ukraine and Poland's scope is not so great. Trolls usually work where they most actively discuss politics — on Twitter and Facebook. Although there are no strict restrictions and "raids" are sometimes carried out on other social networks.

The main goal of network trolls is to create a precedent for fake discussion. At the same time, quite real users are drawn into the discussion. People are actively involved in disputes, not suspecting that they are simply being skillfully manipulated. Discussion branches promoted by trolls grow to huge sizes, and the number of participants grows like a snowball. Trolls often leave the discussion, and it continues to live on its own, fueled by the disputes of the most irreconcilable users.

A journalistic investigation has established that the norm of an ordinary Olginsky troll is 135 comments per day. In the Ukrainian agency Pragmatico, the bar is even higher — they demand to issue up to 300 comments per shift. One of the embedded journalists admitted that such a pace is quite real. For a month and a half of work in the Ukrainian agency, he adapted to issue the norm in just 4 hours.

The scope of organized trolling in Russia cannot be compared with other countries. The Olginsky "Internet Research Agency" employs 300-400 people at the same time. At the same time, the staff of the Ukrainian "factory" Pragmatico does not exceed 20 employees. However, no one can say for sure how many more such companies work in the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

On average, the Olga troll earns 570 euros (32.7 thousand rubles) per month, but employees who know English well and write paid comments on Facebook can receive twice as much. In Ukraine, such work is paid lower. A journalist who worked for the Pragmatico agency was able to earn only 340 euros (19.5 thousand rubles) in a month.

It turned out that in Poland they pay quite differently. A journalist embedded in the Cat@net PR agency, after working hard for a whole month, received only 300 euros (17.2 thousand rubles). But here we can assume that she made a mistake and is to blame herself. The Polish "troll factory" hires employees on a different principle. They themselves say how much they are willing to work for. So the girl was paid as much as she requested.

The contingent at troll factories in different countries is very different. The agency in Olgino is served mainly by hipsters. In Ukraine, trolling is most often earned by students. In Polish PR agencies, most of the employees are people with disabilities. At the same time, if Russian and Ukrainian trolls go to work in the office, then Polish ones from Cat@net work at home, remotely.

The contingent of customers at the "factories" is very diverse. Polish Cat@net, thanks to the employment of disabled people, receives subsidies from the National Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People, that is, from the budget. Among the company's clients are Polish public television, local politicians of the right and left, representatives of medium and large businesses. Weapons manufacturers often use the services of the organization.

The Ukrainian agency Pragmatico works for politicians of not the highest level. Some of them, with the support of trolls among others, even achieve success and get into parliament. Of course, information about clients is kept strictly secret, but the names of political forces and specific names are already well known to the press.

The Internet Research Agency mainly serves the interests of the Kremlin and pro-Kremlin forces. This is not surprising, since behind the "Olginsky" is businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is part of the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Journalists who have worked at Russian, Ukrainian and Polish "factories" have different assessments of the complexity of working as a troll. A journalist who got a job at Cat@net said that she often cried right during work. She was engaged in organized trolling for six months and it changed her life.

The girl had to almost give up her studies at the university and give up her personal life. From morning to night, she created far-right posts on Twitter and participated in discussions. She claims that it is very difficult, especially when what you write is repugnant to your own beliefs.

The Ukrainian journalist worked at Pragmatico for only a month and a half. At the same time, he even managed to shoot a hidden camera video about the work of trolls in the office. He said that for almost a month he was worried that he would be exposed, but shortly before the end of the experiment, he "got involved." Nevertheless, the man admitted that such an experience was not easy for him personally, mainly because of moral principles.

As for colleagues, the Ukrainian journalist did not notice any torments or doubts among them. They believe that they are engaged in quite legitimate activities and treat their functions as normal work.

The situation is about the same for the workers of the "factory" in Olgino. Russian trolls also do not believe that they are doing something immoral or just questionable.

After the publication of the investigation materials, its authors expected a resonance. But nothing particularly serious happened. Of the Polish politicians caught "by the hand", only one confessed to paying for the services of the "factory". Policies in Ukraine denied all the accusations and even portrayed righteous anger in interviews, claiming that they were framed. With the "Olginsky" everything is clear — there could be no reaction.

Social networks had different reactions. A few days before the release of the journalistic material, Facebook blocked the account of the Ukrainian factory Pragmatico. But several accounts of the Polish Cat@net are working safely. However, the National Fund for the Rehabilitation of Disabled People in Poland has launched an investigation into the payment of salaries to employees of the company since 2015.

Finally, it is worth saying that the activity of trolls is not considered illegal. Although it affects political processes, it is not subject to legal regulation. According to many, "troll factories" should be banned, and their accounts in social networks should be identified and blocked.

There is another opinion. If such a business exists and its services are in demand, then why not regulate it legally? Let the politicians who spend millions from the budgets of their parties on the services of trolls declare these expenses. In this case, they will think seriously before ordering laudatory comments or throwing mud at opponents using PR agencies.