新闻周刊:俄罗斯对美国的冷战战略(4)（在线收听）

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.

当斯塔伯德和她的团队回顾2016年的数据时，他们发现俄罗斯互联网研究机构的网络喷子们已经建立了并行的操作，并且紧密合作，使其能够两面兼顾。他们采用在线活动人士的角色，渗透到社区中，模仿其他参与者的情绪，然后，当机会来临时，扮演有影响力的人，巧妙而又不漏痕迹地塑造对话。一些人选择了相对温和的角色，坚持包装，打造一个值得信赖的品牌。其他人则是投掷炸弹者，他们的漫画模仿美国政治身份，煽动异见。她说:“其目标是左翼的“黑人的生命也很重要”对话，以及右翼的在线保守主义活动。”

"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’这样的账号, 这个账号把警察叫做猪，提倡对警察使用暴力，而俄罗斯互联网研究机构的一些喷子用这种方式说了一些最糟糕的话，”斯塔伯德说道。而右翼使用种族主义的绰号，说一些更难听的话。在某些情况下，两边的喷子争吵，只是为了互相说些难听的话。”

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，俄罗斯的网络人物会为右翼的特朗普说好话，诋毁他，并试图让左翼的人们不要投票给希拉里。在2020年，斯塔伯德预计同样的喷子会加大“分裂左派”的努力。由于候选人竞争激烈，喷子们可能会选择与特定候选人一致的角色，渗透到讨论中，然后，只要有可能，利用立场攻击其他民主党候选人(可能是由他们旁边隔间里喷子创造的其他人物支持)，并压制最终的投票。

"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'."

她说:“你会看到他们经常模仿‘抵抗’和其他民主党人的角色，并开始诋毁其他候选人。”她说。“尤其是一旦民主党人选择了一位候选人，他们就会诋毁这位候选人，说，‘哦，这个人不代表我们。我们不能给他们投票。因此，我不会投票。’”