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13 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Read upwards from this tweet for a lesson in "how to unmask a Russian troll." First, note profuse packing of each tweet with "American" idioms, which are all just slightly misused.
Also note the troll launched a pre-packaged rant about Puerto Rico in response to my tweet about NFL anti-police-brutality protests. Complete lack of subject matter correspondence.
When I critiqued this point, the Russian troll seemed not to understand my language. Instead he cited a text message sent by someone else to someone else, tweeted and retweeted by two more someone-elses.
Russian trolls often have pre-made tweets that key off one word or phrase, but don't understand what you actually said.
This account @coreyharper1217 is an example of a Russian troll account operated by a LIVE person, not "bot," probably at a large Russian troll farm.
The responses are human, not automated, but still involve very low English language comprehension and pre-made narratives.
Also, Putin's troll farms pay compensation (in part) per responses to tweets, so "Corey" keeps thread active although he's losing
The only thing that halts his spree is being identified as Russian.
The account has a large number of tweets, probably because it's handed off from one troll-farmhand to another on a regular basis.
But the like-to-tweet ratio is way, way reversed compared to a normal account. Trolls don't get paid to like.
For example, my account has 28,000 tweets and 117,000 likes - about 1 to 5
But "Corey"'s account has 30,000 tweets and 3,000 likes. 3 to 1
But "Corey"'s account has 30,000 tweets and 3,000 likes. 3 to 1
Also, the account uses pics, avatars and bio phrases lifted from other fan accounts of the same athlete. But his has a longer number string at end.
The @coreyharper1217 account was opened in 2014 - about the time Putin's info-op started gearing up.
