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How much do you think an online disinformation campaign costs? $5k? $10k? Try $250. As Alphabet subsidiary Jigsaw found out—somewhat controversially—a targeted troll campaign is easily within reach for not just governments, but individuals like you 1/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
In March 2018, after hiring a security firm to sniff around Russian-language black-market and gray-market web forums, Jigsaw paid an underground disinformation vendor called SEOTweet to attack an anti-Stalin website it had created 2/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9 
For just $500, SEOTweet offered to remove the site from the web altogether with fraudulent complaints that it hosted abusive content. Jigsaw declined but had its security firm pay $250 for a social media campaign. It provided no further instructions 3/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
Two weeks later, SEOTweet reported back to Jigsaw that it had posted 730 Russian-language tweets attacking the anti-Stalin site from 25 different Twitter accounts, as well as 100 posts to forums and blog comment sections of websites 4/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
Without any guidance, SEOTweet assumed that the fight over the anti-Stalin website was actually about contemporary Russian politics and the country's upcoming presidential elections. Some of the tweets appeared to defend not Stalin, but Vladimir Putin 5/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
"You simply don’t understand all that the president does for our country so that people can live better, and you armchair analysts can’t do anything," read one Russian-language tweet (below) posted by a fake user named [at]sanya2un1995 6/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
Jigsaw’s experiment has also garnered criticism. It paid a shady service to support a genocidal dictator and its actions could be spun or perceived as Google meddling in Russian politics and culture 7/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
Jigsaw also didn't publish the full results. But what they did release proves a point: The power of a disinformation campaign is now accessible to anyone with a few hundred dollars to spare. They will grow, as will the toxic fallout for their victims 8/ wired.trib.al/ktHDnT9
