Jesika Aro received death threats, fake news, hate comments, trolls pretending to be her dead father and targeting her as a woman. However, this harsh experience did not stop the journalist from publishing the book “Putin’s trolls” in 2019, on the contrary, it encouraged him. Last year, this book also reached the Latvian-speaking audience.
Aro is a Finnish investigative journalist who in 2014 began investigating the so-called “troll factories” – information operations carried out by Russia with the aim of spreading pro-Kremlin ideology. These trolls praise the Kremlin as heroes and position the West as aggressors. Troll factories are run by Russian security and intelligence agencies using social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Information operations have been carried out in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Hungary, Finland, the USA and elsewhere. Aro wrote several research articles on the subject, which made her a target for propagandists.
In an interview for the “Delfi” portal, the journalist talks about what she learned, what she experienced and what she learned.
What’s the most memorable attack you’ve had from Kremlin trolls?
I immediately remember an incident after I returned to Finland after a vacation in Thailand
