She is being hunted by Putin’s trolls

They threatened to kill her. She called her a drug addict, dophuve, a mentally ill person. She went so far that she feared someone would physically attack her. This was the daily life of Finnish journalist and writer Jessikka Aro. And those behind the threats were the Russian trolls.

– I no longer felt safe in Finland, so I fled, Aro tells Dagbladet BOK.

Jessikka Aro is a reporter for the Finnish broadcasting company Yle and in 2014 she started working to expose Russian troll factories and Russian information warfare both inside and outside Russia’s borders. This became the book “Putin’s troll: Russia’s information war against the democratic world.”

The Russian government has repeatedly denied meddling in other countries’ politics through pressure and manipulation. In his work, Aro has described how the Russian regime has used enormous resources to spread its propaganda even in the democratic world. And how everything was organized through large round-the-clock companies with many departments.

– My last visit to Russia was in 2015, when I interviewed people who worked in a troll factory in St. Petersburg. Brave people who dare to speak to me. Even then, these factories were spreading Russian propaganda around the clock, Aro says.

It didn’t take long after Aro started digging before she became a target herself.

– In fake news online and on social media, I have been described as a foreign agent and a criminal. Such disinformation can be dangerous, not only for freedom of expression, but also for me as an individual. I saw how the Russians managed to manipulate people’s thoughts, attitudes and behavior.

Aro became a target in Finland after hundreds of different stories about her were posted on social media. Unknown persons, Finnish nationals, threatened her, according to Aro.

– Some wanted to kill me, some sent hate messages, some said I should be in jail. People have been brainwashed into hating me, says Aro today.

– Born-bitch

In 2017, he chose to leave Finland. She had a plan to create a quiet life with a husband and children. But everything has been suspended. Where Aro lived in the following years, she doesn’t want to say anything, but she was tough.

– Today I have a baby and my family, finally. This crazy Kremlin propaganda stole a part of my life, and still does. I try to pretend that I live a completely normal life. That I’m not on their shit list, stalked or stalked online, she says.

But there are still messages on social media that Jessikka Aro is a NATO whore, brainwashed, psychotic, paid by US intelligence. Some write that she would have been “better if she had died,” according to Aro.

– It’s unfortunate, but it’s important that people are aware of how Russia uses enormous resources to influence and manipulate public discourse not only in Russia, but also in the rest of the world. Russia is waging a very active information war.

Professionals

In 2019, Aro returned to Finland. In the same year he publishes the book “Putin’s Trolls: Russia’s Information War Against the Democratic World” in Finnish. The book has been translated into Swedish, Hungarian, Polish, Estonian and English, and now also Norwegian.

– I’m happy about it, says Aro.

There is also the Norwegian journalist and head of Barents Press Norge, Amund Trellevik. A few years ago he was in St. Petersburg where he interviewed a Russian woman who allegedly worked undercover in one of the country’s witch factories.

– It was the factory of Putin’s chef Yevgeny Prigozhin, and it was set up in every possible way. It was a real office building with subject departments, says Trellevik.

– The West drugged by Russia

Here, according to Trellevik, there were various departments that worked specifically with NATO, Ukraine and the Russian opposition – inside and outside Russia.

– The woman we interviewed must have been a fortune teller. You might laugh about it, but in Russia superstition is very relevant and fortune tellers are often something people believe in, says Trellevik.

You want more debate

The woman had various fake social media profiles, as well as writing a blog as a fortune teller. The Russian opposition politician then showed how organized the troll factories were Boris Nemtsov was killed in February 2015, just days before leading an anti-war demonstration in eastern Ukraine.

– Then there were all the trolls at the pumps to discredit Nemtsov and his work. Debates were built up: one troll wrote a comment, then other trolls came and attacked that troll. There were contrived antagonisms between the three, all of whom were trolls. So cynical and so detailed, says Trellevik and continues:

– If you extend that to what Jessikka Aro has been exposed to, then all the trolls have been after her. Which one has to assume is a very, very unpleasant experience.

Trellevik wants more debate on Russian propaganda and information warfare.

– We need to be aware that what these trolls are doing is very serious and something we should discuss more – even in Norway, he says and adds:

– The operations of influencing and manipulating public discourse, which these trolls actually do, are more common than we like to believe. That’s why it’s good that this book comes out in Norwegian. Hopefully it will increase knowledge and debate about this here at home.

pioneer

– Jessikka Aro was a pioneer and journalistic heroine who came under much attack for her work in exposing how Russian troll factories systematically interfered in Western media, politics and public debate, says Thomas Nielsen, editor by The Independent Barents Observer.

– When he revealed it in 2015, few in Europe paid attention to it. Through the book, Aro makes visible examples that allow people to recognize themselves, both in Norway, but also in Sweden, Finland and other European countries. Jessikka Aro should be commended for her work, she says.