Thread by @DVKirichenko

Since the beginning, the war for #Ukraine has been the fight of everyday people. In keeping with that tradition, #NAFO has taken up digital arms against the troll farms of Russia to combat Russia’s state-sponsored digital disinformation machine. frontsight.vc/posts/warrior-…

1/ Supporting Ukraine’s cyber defenses through decentralized democratic forces, such as the volunteer cyber warriors of the IT Army, has been key in tipping the scales of inequality in the digital warfare supporting the physical battlelines of Ukraine’s defense effort.

2/ Much like their IT Army counterparts, the NAFO community, identified through the use of cartoon Shiba Inu dogs, make it their mission to fight Russian trolls and those who distribute Russian disinformation online.

3/ While decentralized, NAFO forms ranks and schedules duties much like other defenders at formal cyber command posts. Users log onto social media day and night to fight Russian trolls. General duties include engaging with Russian state proxies on social media platforms...

4/ In Lushenko’s view, the correlation between fundraising campaigns such as the NAFO group-speared Racoon’s Revenge and real success online is “anecdotal.”

5/ “Memes are helpful to bolster public support,” Lushenko said, expressing the view that memes targeting the destruction of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet can play the role of undermining Putin’s war effort in that territory."

6/ “Memes will continue to play a supporting role to what goes on the battlefield,” said Lushenko. Prior research from Lushenko showed that memes are also “designed to shape the attitudes of domestic and international audiences.”

7/ Following the successful trolling of Colby, One NAFO fella who goes by the username “@osint_69,” said, “Next stop Senator from Ohio,” referencing J.D. Vance.

@osint_69 8/ @P_Kallioniemi believes that NAFO is on an evolutionary course, just like drones in the Russo-Ukrainian war, “It’s a matter of trial and error to improve NAFO,” Kallioniemi said, highlighting that once one party invents something new, another party counters that.

@osint_69 @P_Kallioniemi 9/ “It’s an evolutionary process, it’s difficult to predict the future,” @P_Kallioniemi added.