On March 24, @DFRLab reported how pro-Kremlin Twitter users had amplified a Twitter poll based in the United Kingdom, which questioned the British government’s trustworthiness in the aftermath of the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal, in an apparent attempt to influence the vote.

Those Twitter users, and others like them, were quick to attack the report, targeting @DFRLab and those who reported on pro-Kremlin trolling with insults, criticisms, and threats.

Such trolling is an inseparable part of life for those who report on pro-Kremlin disinformation. The current case, however, illustrated the techniques frequently used in such attacks, which can be described as “dismiss, distort, distract, dismay.”

Dismiss

The simplest method of trolling researchers is to insult them, and thus to dismiss their work without looking at the evidence they adduce. Some of the attacks which followed the publication of our research attacked @DFRLab and other researchers, notably the Bellingcat group of investigative journalists. Here, the main claim was that such groups are “neocons.”

Posts from @Kev371A and @Ian56789, attacking @DFRLab, the Atlantic Council, and other researchers. The lower tweet followed @DFRLab’s publication; the upper one followed a publication in the Washington Post by Anne Applebaum which referenced the @DFRLab findings. Archived on March 26, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @Ian56789 / @Kev371A)

Rather more attacks were personal. They were distinguished from evidence-based criticism or principled disagreement, both of which are an integral part of debate, by their pejorative tone, and their focus on the author, rather than the theme. It is this which qualifies them as trolling, rather than discussion.

Troll posts on March 24. The Russian-language one reads, “It seems to me that your diagnosis is persecution mania! There are transparency and democracy in Russia — absolutely any problem is discussed! You’re trying to accuse every patriotically-minded citizen of the Russian Federation of espionage! I think it’s because of insufficient intellectual capabilities!” Archived on March 24–26, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @Ian56789 / @Dmitry_Repkin / @znaetymka / @Syricide / @Dedok067)

The attacks were more noteworthy for their invective than their accuracy of fact or language. For example, @Ian56789 used the handles @BenNimmo and @Ben_Nimmo instead of the correct @Benimmo, while @Syricide incorrectly attributed the report to the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), rather than @DFRLab.

@znaetymka used the pejorative “Russophobe,” an adjective which the Russian government regularly uses to dismiss its critics.

Dismissal is the simplest form of trolling, as, by definition, it avoids analyzing the evidence. These attempts fit firmly in that context.

Distort

The distortion technique requires more attention to detail, both in the creation and the rebutting. It is therefore a rarer technique.

On this occasion, it was chiefly deployed by @ValLisitsa, an account attributed to Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa. This account was a significant amplifier of the original online poll, and its retweet was picked up by a number of Russian-language accounts.

As we wrote at the time:

None of these Russian accounts has an organic focus on, or interest in, UK politics; their content is dominated by pro-Kremlin messaging, mostly in Russian or English. Their purpose in retweeting the poll therefore seems to have been to spread it to a Russian audience which could be expected to vote against the UK government.

On March 24, Lisitsa responded, arguing that her retweet was posted after the Twitter poll closed, and that it could not, therefore, have influenced the vote. She accompanied the post with a screenshot of a tweet which quoted the original poll and praised “ordinary Britons” for not “losing their common sense despite the hysteria spread by politicians and the media.”

Archived on March 26, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @ValLisitsa)

Lisitsa’s response was deceptive. The original poll, from an account called @Rachael_Swindon, was posted at 4:56 p.m., UK time, on March 17.

The poll from @Rachael_Swindon, showing the time at which it was posted, and archived on March 21, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @Rachael_Swindon)

According to a subsequent post from the same author to British Prime Minister Theresa May, the poll was set to run for 24 hours.

Confirmation that the poll lasted 24 hours. Archived on March 26, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @Rachael_Swindon.)

The tweet to which Lisitsa referred was posted at 7:12 p.m. on March 18. This was, indeed, after the expiry of the poll.

Translated from Russian: “Respect and honor to simple Britons — despite the hysteria spread by politicians and the media, they haven’t lost their common sense. Results of a poll, ‘Do you think that the evidence put forward by Theresa May is sufficient to call Russia guilty?’” Archived on March 26, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @ValLisitsa)

However, Lisitsa was referring to the wrong post. Our article and scan actually referred to a separate retweet of the poll — not a quote — which she had posted that morning. A screenshot of her timeline for March 17–18 showed that this retweet was posted immediately before a Russian-language post sharing an AFP article on Syria.