When Starbird and her team went back into their data from 2016, they found that IRA internet trolls had set up parallel operations that worked in close concert, allowing them to play both sides of the fence. They adopted the personas of online activists, infiltrating communities, and mimicking the sentiments of other participants, and then, when the opportunity struck, acting as influencers, subtly and not so subtly shaping the conversations. Some adopted relatively mild personas, sticking with the pack, building a trusted brand. Others were bomb throwers, adopting caricatures of US political identities and fanning the flames of dissent. "They targeted both Black Lives Matter conversations on the left, and then online conservative activism on the right," she says.
當斯塔伯德和她的團隊回顧2016年的數據時，他們發現俄羅斯互聯網研究機構的網絡噴子們已經建立了并行的操作，并且緊密合作，使其能夠兩面兼顧。他們采用在線活動人士的角色，滲透到社區中，模仿其他參與者的情緒，然后，當機會來臨時，扮演有影響力的人，巧妙而又不漏痕跡地塑造對話。一些人選擇了相對溫和的角色，堅持包裝，打造一個值得信賴的品牌。其他人則是投擲炸彈者，他們的漫畫模仿美國政治身份，煽動異見。她說:“其目標是左翼的“黑人的生命也很重要”對話，以及右翼的在線保守主義活動?！?/p>
"So on the left and in the pro Black Lives Matter group, you could have accounts like 'bleep the police' who are calling police pigs and advocating for violence against police, and some of the IRA trolls are saying some of the worst things in that kind of vein," Starbird says. "And then on the right they are using racial epithets and saying some of the nastier things. In some cases, you have their troll on one side arguing with their troll on the other side just to say nasty things to each other."
“所以左翼和‘黑人的生命也很重要’支持者，你可以有像‘XX警察’這樣的賬號, 這個賬號把警察叫做豬，提倡對警察使用暴力，而俄羅斯互聯網研究機構的一些噴子用這種方式說了一些最糟糕的話，”斯塔伯德說道。而右翼使用種族主義的綽號，說一些更難聽的話。在某些情況下，兩邊的噴子爭吵，只是為了互相說些難聽的話。”
In 2016, Russian online personas would put in a good word for Trump on the right and denigrate and try to get people not to vote for Hillary on the left. In 2020, Starbird expects these same trolls to ramp up their efforts to "divide the left." With a crowded field of candidates vying for attention, trolls may adopt personas aligned with specific candidates, infiltrate discussions and then, whenever possible, use their positions to attack other Democratic candidates (likely supported by other personas created by the trolls in the cubicles next to them) and depress the eventual vote.
2016年，俄羅斯的網絡人物會為右翼的特朗普說好話，詆毀他，并試圖讓左翼的人們不要投票給希拉里。在2020年，斯塔伯德預計同樣的噴子會加大“分裂左派”的努力。由于候選人競爭激烈，噴子們可能會選擇與特定候選人一致的角色，滲透到討論中，然后，只要有可能，利用立場攻擊其他民主黨候選人(可能是由他們旁邊隔間里噴子創造的其他人物支持)，并壓制最終的投票。
"You'll see them mimicking regularly the "resist" and other sorts of Democratic personas, and start denigrating the other candidates," she says. "And especially once the Democrats choose a candidate, they'll denigrate the chosen candidate, and say, 'Oh this person doesn't represent us. We can't vote for them. Therefore, I'm not going to vote'."
她說:“你會看到他們經常模仿‘抵抗’和其他民主黨人的角色，并開始詆毀其他候選人?！彼f。“尤其是一旦民主黨人選擇了一位候選人，他們就會詆毀這位候選人，說，‘哦，這個人不代表我們。我們不能給他們投票。因此，我不會投票。’”
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