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A Mole1 Among Trolls: Inside the Internet Research Agency

Vitaly Bespalov had no idea what to expect when he arrived at a business center in St. Petersburg, Russia, to ask for a job.

Everything about the building seemed unusual to the 23-year-old reporter. There was a lot of security. The windows were darkened. Guards dressed like soldiers asked him where he lived. They examined his passport.

As he was talking with them, a woman entered the building. She appeared to be extremely angry.

Bespalov said, "She was yelling2 something about how she refused to be a part of this.”

He added, “Everything about the place was strange.”

The year was 2014. The place was the Internet Research Agency, a company which would hire Bespalov. The Internet Research Agency now faces criminal charges in the United States. The Justice Department has accused it of illegal interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Bespalov recently described his experiences working at the Internet Research Agency to VOA.

A mysterious and well-paying position

Bespalov had moved from his home in Siberia to St. Petersburg to work at a local news website. But he did not get the job. So, he began to search for writing or reporting positions.

One day he received a promising3 call. There was an opening for a writing job that paid double the usual amount.

“I had no idea who it was,” Bespalov said. “They just called and told me to show up tomorrow at this address - Savushkina 55. And I didn’t understand what the job was or what the company was, but I said, ‘Sure, why not?’”

Bespalov met there with a woman named Anna. He took a writing test and provided examples of his reporting. He described them as sympathetic pieces on Russia’s opposition4 movement.

“I still don’t understand why they took me,” he says, adding that his politics were clearly anti-government. “But Anna came back with a smile and said, ‘Well, we don’t cover the kind of stories you do, but you know how to write.’”

How to write for IRA

On his first day, Bespalov was asked to cover the war in Ukraine. He was told to rewrite reports from other websites for a few fake5 Ukrainian news sites. The goal was make the reports seem fresh and pro-Russian government.

For example, he said, he would change the word “annexation6” to “reunification.” Or he would describe the Ukrainian government as “fascist7” while commenting favorably about separatists in the eastern part of the country.

Bespalov said he quickly understood he was working at the center of a propaganda8 machine. He said he was faced with only two possibilities. He could leave the so-called “troll factory” immediately to protect his professional image. Or, he could stay to learn more about the place and write a big story about it.

Bespalov went with the second choice. He became a mole among trolls.

He says the job demanded a lot. Teams worked eight to 12 hours around the clock, seven days a week. Supervisors9 watched their work. Cameras were deployed10 all over the building. The company discouraged employees from talking to each other.

Investigating begins

But, Bespalov did have short discussions with other workers during breaks. He said most seemed not to care or think about what they were doing.

“I know people who’ve been there for three years and never thought once what it was all about. They were there for the money,” he says.

Bespalov said it was a highly structured operation with a newsroom on one floor, and bloggers and social media workers on another. There was also an images department.

Bespalov said the goal of all this was to complete what he called a “circle of lies.” The bloggers and social media operation supported state media news to push one central idea. Bespalov called that idea “Make Russia Great Again.”

So, he said, the internet and state media had united.

Bespalov said the effort was directed fully11 at the Russian people.

He said, “Even the fake Ukrainian sites weren’t there to change minds in Ukraine. The point was to remove Russians’ doubts about the war in Ukraine and about ourselves because we have a weak economy, because we have few political freedoms.”

He said the Internet Research Agency sought, in his words, “to create the appearance of a great country.”

Time to go

Bespalov worked at the agency for three-and-a-half months to learn as much about the organization as he could. Then, he quit.

He published a report on his investigation12 in 2015. He said he did not use his own name as the writer because he worried for his safety. Later, he was threatened, he says, after others at the IRA began to suspect that the report was his work.

Other reports came out and the threats stopped.

“Everybody knew about it,” he says.

Bespalov says he has very little additional information about the Internet Research Agency. But, he said it had started looking for English-speakers around the time he quit.

Bespalov said his actions have been misrepresented in Russia and the United States.

He said people in the U.S. do not call him a reporter but a former troll. And in Russia he is considered a treasonous liar13. He said his friends want him to stop talking because they fear he will be killed.

Now it appears the IRA worked to influence Russia's 2018 presidential campaign.

An internet user named “Kremlebot,” claiming to work for IRA’s Russian language group, posted that employees worked to raise voter numbers.

Facebook and Reddit social media sites have removed accounts each company identified as connected to the IRA.

The Russian government has denied any connection to or direct knowledge of the company.

I’m Susan Shand. And I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

address – n. the words and numbers that are used to describe the location of a building

fake – adj. not true or real

annexation – n. the act of taking control of a part of a country

reunification – n. to make something, such as a divided country whole again

fascist – adj. a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator14 controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government

mole – n. a spy who works inside an organization and gives secret information to another organization or country

troll – n. a person who tries to cause problems on an Internet message board by posting messages that cause other people to argue, become angry,

doubt – n. to be uncertain about (something) : to believe that (something) may not be true or is unlikely

discourage – v. to tell or advise someone not to do something?


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mole 26Nzn     
n.胎块;痣;克分子
参考例句:
  • She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
  • The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。
2 yelling 3511049a0a263aa2fca072a416e83d6a     
v.叫喊,号叫,叫着说( yell的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The coach stood on the sidelines yelling instructions to the players. 教练站在场外,大声指挥运动员。
  • He let off steam by yelling at a clerk. 他对一个职员大喊大叫,借以发泄怒气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
4 opposition eIUxU     
n.反对,敌对
参考例句:
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
5 fake RlDx4     
vt.伪造,造假,假装;n.假货,赝品
参考例句:
  • He can tell a fake from the original.他能分辨出赝品和真品。
  • You can easily fake up an excuse to avoid going out with him.你可以很容易地编造一个借口而不与他一同外出。
6 annexation 7MWyt     
n.吞并,合并
参考例句:
  • He mentioned the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 .他提及1910年日本对朝鲜的吞并。
  • I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas.我认为合并的问题,完全属于德克萨斯和美国之间的事。
7 fascist ttGzJZ     
adj.法西斯主义的;法西斯党的;n.法西斯主义者,法西斯分子
参考例句:
  • The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
  • They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。
8 propaganda 20gzs     
n.宣传,宣传机构
参考例句:
  • A lot of propaganda has painted him as bad.大量宣传把他说得很坏。
  • Art may be used as a vehicle for propaganda.艺术可以用作为宣传的媒介。
9 supervisors 80530f394132f10fbf245e5fb15e2667     
n.监督者,管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
  • Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句
10 deployed 4ceaf19fb3d0a70e329fcd3777bb05ea     
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用
参考例句:
  • Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
  • The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。
11 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
12 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
13 liar V1ixD     
n.说谎的人
参考例句:
  • I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了,一个又偷又骗的家伙!
  • She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。
14 dictator G9EyH     
n.独裁者,爱发号施令的人
参考例句:
  • We felt quite impotent to resist the will of the dictator.我们感到无力抗拒独裁者的意志。
  • A dictator must have a firm hand.独裁者的手段是很厉害的。

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