Thousands of people have joined a grassroots, pro-democratic campaign to counter Moscow’s media warfare machine. These unexpected warriors are known as “elves,” and they chase down Russian trolls while also exposing Kremlin misinformation. Some elves use credible material obtained from partners on the ground in Ukraine’s troubled regions to refute Russian talking points.
Russian trolls are increasingly using social media to spread propaganda and sway global events, including the 2016 US presidential election, in order to influence people’s world views. The role of trolls will only become more important as ties between Russia and the West deteriorate, a cybersecurity In the 1980s, the KGB and the East German Stasi initiated “Operation Denver,” a campaign in which faked papers and expert testimony were used to blame HIV on US biological warfare research. Russian operatives often employ the five D’s: distort, divert, dismiss,. dismiss, deny, dismay, and dismay – Larissa Doroshenko, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University.
According to Shelby Grossman, a research scientist at the Stanford Internet Observatory, the Kremlin used these methods during the invasion of Ukraine.
While under Russian military siege, Ukraine has essentially defeated Russia at its own game of information warfare. The United States, the European Union, NATO, and social media corporations have all tried to keep state-sponsored or sanctioned misinformation and propaganda under control, but they have made progress. “An inauthentic Instagram operation distributing fake information about Ukrainian refugees committing hundreds of crimes in Poland was just halted by Meta”.
Elves are used to uncovering falsehoods and exposing misinformation, gaslighting, and falsehoods. In 2013, Riardas Savukynas discovered dozens of Facebook groups on a variety of themes, all of which had the same administrators and were pro-Russian. The groups interspersed seemingly unrelated postings about alternative medicine or GMO-free food with lies about the Maidan Square protest in Kyiv.The Russians were using these Facebook efforts to create the framework for conflict, Savukynas knew.
Aleksandras Savukynas was one of a group of Lithuanians who formed an online resistance movement against what they believed to be Russian trolls and other dark forces on the internet. According to Kleková, this loosely linked network of NGOs now works in 13 European nations, focused on extremism.
The Czech elves are an autonomous and apolitical movement united primarily by their pro-democracy values. They are at war with Russian trolls from Lithuania to the Czech Republic and keep an eye on misinformation, evaluate data, and write reports on the most harmful stories. Every day, they are confronted with “the deepest parts of human beings and the darkest parts of the internet was terrifying,” says student Anke Kleková.
Lithuania’s CyberElves were established by Riardas Savukynas to combat Russian misinformation and act anonymously with the exception of two spokespeople to safeguard members and their families from Russian military intelligence and other risks. “Many individuals in Central and Eastern Europe are unknowingly encountering these cyber elves,” one of them told USA TODAY.
As pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation flooded social media, volunteers stepped up to help the COVID-19 disinformation project in the Czech Republic. Monika Richter, head of research and analysis at Semantic Visions, says she could tell conflict was coming from the data the elves were gathering in the months leading up to Ukraine’s invasion.
Czech elf claims to be concerned about anti-immigration messages and other attempts to sway public opinion against Ukraine. Claims that Ukrainians flowing across borders are affluent, iPhone-wielding opportunists pilfering Czech resources are particularly successful. While debunking the messages, the elves also make their own requests for displaced Ukrainians who have lost nearly everything. The elf claims she scribbled a note at the bottom of a recent report that reads, “I am really afraid”.
