The U.S. indictment centred on a Russian troll farm only scratches the surface of the St. Petersburg agency that allegedly produced online content to sway the 2016 presidential election — and glosses over how unconvincing some of its stunts could be. Last year The Daily Beast said it had identified “Williams and Kalvin” — a rap duo purportedly from Atlanta that appeared in YouTube videos — as operatives of the Russian troll operation. The nonsensical quality of the work would be no surprise to former troll farm employee Baskaev. He described a slap-dash operation whose internet connections frequently failed and whose fake profiles repeatedly got spiked by Facebook administrators. When the managers had gone home, the 20-somethings working the night shift at the troll farm ran amok, he said, playing Islamic State anthems over the sound system and jokingly saluting each other with the Ukrainian nationalist greeting, “Glory to Ukraine!”The indictment alleges that the troll farm sent operatives to the United States.

Source: National Post February 20, 2018 17:37 UTC