{"id":18724,"date":"2014-03-01T12:39:09","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T12:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.bivol.bg\/trollogie-from-scientific-communism-to-neo-liberalism-in-manipulating-public-opinion-in-virtual-space.html"},"modified":"2014-09-17T14:23:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T14:23:05","slug":"trollogie-from-scientific-communism-to-neo-liberalism-in-manipulating-public-opinion-in-virtual-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/trollogie-from-scientific-communism-to-neo-liberalism-in-manipulating-public-opinion-in-virtual-space.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTrollogie\u201d \u2013 from Scientific Communism to Neo-liberalism in Manipulating Public Opinion in Virtual Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Capture_2014-02-28_a_12.54.50\"<\/p>\n

At the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome, party leader Sergey Stanishev called on all left-wing supporters and followers in Europe to campaign \u201cdoor to door\u201d to explain to people how the Socialists will lead change in the European Union (EU), the press center of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) announced.<\/p>\n

However, a series of leaked internal documents from the BSP archive, AKA BSPLeaks, through the anonymous document sharing platform Balkanleaks.eu, revealed that the Bulgarian Socialists use for their campaign mainly illegal and \u201csubversive\u201d methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom door to door,\u201d \u201cfrom call to call\u201d and \u201cfrom troll to troll\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Official correspondence of BSP revealed that Socialist Member of the Parliament Kiril Dobrev has hired the agency \u201c60K\u201d, which has widely used stolen personal data. The agency compiled lists with names of elderly people and then canvassed them over the phone from its call center. After the publication of the site \u201cOffnews\u201d on the subject, the Commission for Personal Data Protection started a probe.<\/p>\n

Moreover, an army of fake profiles in forums and on social networks has been mobilized for manipulation of public opinion. Some of them were partisan volunteers and others were paid, but both are known as \u201cinternet trolls.\u201d This activity, unlike the theft of personal data to be used by the call center, is not illegal, however, its moral dimension is very questionable, and can be compared to the practice of vote buying.<\/p>\n

The analysis of the leaked documents shows that the BSP leadership has walked on a long and painful path of ideological transition from planned to market trolling. In two years, from 2011 to 2013, despite opposition of \u201cred\u201d volunteers, partisan trolls have been replaced by paid professionals from the Leadway company.<\/p>\n

From \u201cscientific communism\u201d to \u201cneoliberalism\u201d in trolling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pioneer in the use of trolls, available on the free capitalist market, is the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party (DSB), which in May 2011 hired \u201cLeadway Media Solutions\u201d for \u201conline reputation management\u201d for the mayoral elections. Against 10 000 levs per month, this included 1800 comments in \u201cforums, blogs and social networks\u201d and the creation of 40 profiles of virtual supporters of the Employer (DSB ) \u2013 a sort of virtual clappers for party candidates.<\/p>\n

\"dsb-trolls-dogovor-2\"<\/p>\n

The contract with Leadway, shown by the Chairman of DSB Radan Kanev on bTV<\/em><\/p>\n

During this time, BSP still relied on the labor of brigades of volunteers, leaked documents show. BSP partisan trolls were first exposed in a publication of Bivol <\/a>from December 2013. In a leaked document from the youth organization of the Socialist Party, dated March 2011, Luba Totina explains the need for \u201cactive citizenship in already functioning non-partisan pages\u201d in order \u201cto create attitudes and spread rumors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cred\u201d headquarters denied the information then, but two months later top party functionary Anton Kutev personally admitted that the Centenarian (as the Socialists call their party, citing its 100-years of history \u2013 editor\u2019s note) used for such purposes supporters and volunteers.<\/p>\n

On July 28, 2011, the youth organization of BSP distributed the following scheme, featuring an almost scientific mathematical approach:<\/p>\n

\u201cComments by multiplication\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scheme was made for six internet sites and seven people. Each \u201ccommentator\u201d has a number that corresponds to the day of the week 1 \u2013 Monday, 2 \u2013 Tuesday etc. Figure 1 shows the combination when number 7- Sunday is a \u201cdistributor.\u201d His or her job is to choose on Sunday a story that is repeated in all six sites and distribute it to the other six \u201ccommentators\u201d in the group; their task is to write one comment each and enter it in the table of Belavov. From there, the \u201cdistributor\u201d multiplies the comments in all sites, as shown on figure 2. In this combination, when there is one comment from the group, then 6 = 36; when there are two 12 = 72 etc. The idea is to write less and be busier just one day of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two illustrations are attached in order to explain the text:<\/p>\n

\"Capture_2014-02-28_a_12.54.50\"<\/p>\n

\"Capture_2014-02-28_a_12.54.31\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately Bivol does not have the so-called \u201ctable Belavov.\u201d Belavov is actually engineer Nikolay Belalov, municipal councilor from BSP in the Sofia City Council and supervisor of \u201cPersonnel Training\u201d in the National Council of the Socialist Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cPartisan\u201d vs \u201cpaid\u201d trolls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the beginning of 2013, professional trolls of \u201cLeadway\u201d have already been serving the campaign for the referendum on the construction of a second Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), according to leaked documents from other internal correspondence of BSP. It further shows that there was clearly antagonism between \u201cpartisan\u201d and \u201cpaid\u201d trolls, where the first were upset by the inclusion of the second.<\/p>\n

In a document, dated February 4, 2013, entitled \u201cAnalysis of the Internet Campaign<\/a>,\u201d referring to the referendum on the Belene NPP in 2013, techniques for influencing public opinion through social networks are analyzed with their pros and cons. Activity in several groups and web pages is examined:<\/p>\n

Referendum on Belene NPP<\/a> \u2013 2332 members;<\/p>\n

National Referendum \u2013 Nuclear Energy<\/a> \u2013 2651 members;<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Collect 500 000 Signatures Requesting a Referendum on \u201cBelene\u201d<\/a> \u2013 183 likes;<\/p>\n

Referendum \u2013 Truth and Real Alternative \u2013 RILA <\/a>\u2013 151 likes;<\/p>\n

The Truth about Belene NPP<\/a> \u2013 5768 members<\/p>\n

The last page and group have been \u201cset up by a group of \u201cLeadway Media\u201d in the last three weeks of the campaign,\u201d the document says. The group is administered by troll Luka Trayanov<\/a>, who is detected in other documents of \u201cLeadway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the double-digit difference in attracted internet users, compared to \u201cpartisan\u201d trolls, the rapporteurs were not satisfied with the work of \u201cLeadway.\u201d This is evident from the criticism in the analysis:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a fact that in the short period during which they had to work, they had no useful move, but to artificially fill pages with \u201clikes\u201d and group members. However, it is also a fact that in the end they agreed to work under these conditions and they just had to take a different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conclusion of the party functionaries about the paid campaign is negative: \u201cOverall, this kind of campaign boils down only to some reporting activity; there is no direct result and only the fact that it has no influence in social networks prevents it from becoming anti- campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

This view, apparently, was not taken into account by the BSP leadership. Subsequent reports of \u201cLeadway\u201d<\/a> to Anton Kutev and Socialist MEP Iliyana Yotova show that the party still preferred market trolls and used them throughout 2013 and early 2014, until Bivol exposed the scheme.<\/p>\n

The icing on the cake of course is the fact, acknowledged by Iliyana Yotova<\/a> that the company has paid the trolls with European money directly invoiced to the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

Completely in the spirit of European market liberalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome, party leader Sergey Stanishev called on all left-wing supporters and followers in Europe to campaign \u201cdoor to door\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","kia_subtitle":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5543,5823,5827],"tags":[5144,5145,5146,5143],"class_list":["post-18724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis-en","category-b-files-en","category-b-files-trolls-en","tag-bsp-en","tag-dsb-en","tag-internet-trolling","tag-trolls-en"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cTrollogie\u201d \u2013 from Scientific Communism to Neo-liberalism in Manipulating Public Opinion in Virtual Space - 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According to the anonymous activists, who claim to have analyzed a huge volume of public data from the social network, the most active troll on Facebook is \"Adrian Nikolov\". He is the author\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/bulpress-bsp-1-300x260.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16778,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/ep-monica-yosiffova-trolls-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":18724,"position":2},"title":"In 2014, the EP is launching internet trolls with “talking points” for the European elections","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"31 December 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Copy of part of the contract between the European Parliament and the Active Group company of Monica Yosifova, obtained by Bivol based on Regulation 1049\/2001 The example of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, and its internet trolls pushing in a \"guerilla\" manner the party line in forums and social networks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comments","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/comments-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-11-19_a_10.32.23.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-11-19_a_10.32.23.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-11-19_a_10.32.23.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-11-19_a_10.32.23.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-11-19_a_10.32.23.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18909,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/trolls-yotova-1500-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":18724,"position":3},"title":"BULGARIAN SOCIALIST MEP PAID 1\u00a0500 LEVS (\u20ac 750) PER MONTH FOR INTERNET TROLLS","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"23 May 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The July 24, 2013, offer of the company \u201cLeadway Media Solutions\u201d to Bulgarian MEP\u00a0Iliyana Yotova, from the group of the\u00a0Party of European Socialists (PES), for online reputation management proposes the use of internet trolls against 1 500 levs\u00a0(\u20ac 750)\u00a0per month excluding VAT. Against this amount, a team of four experts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"Capture_2014-02-15_a_22.52.48","src":"images\/stories\/Capture_2014-02-15_a_22.52.48.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"images\/stories\/Capture_2014-02-15_a_22.52.48.jpg 1x, images\/stories\/Capture_2014-02-15_a_22.52.48.jpg 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16706,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bspleaks-monika-medii-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":18724,"position":4},"title":"Monica Yosifova Also Negotiated Socialists\u2019 Media Appearances","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"11 December 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The strong PR campaign for the Socialists, led by Monica Yosifova, the current wife of Sergey Stanishev, leader of BSP and PES, has included arrangement of media appearances, a document from the archive BSPLeaks, published on the site Balkanleaks, reveals. It is not clear from the chart, sent by Monica\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-12-11_a_20.50.44.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-12-11_a_20.50.44.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-12-11_a_20.50.44.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Capture_2013-12-11_a_20.50.44.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16941,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/bsptrolls4-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":18724,"position":5},"title":"Socialist MEP Campaigns with Paid Internet Trolls","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"14 February 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Bulgarian MEP Iliyana Yotova, from the group of the Party of European Socialists (PES), has used services of the company \"Leadway Media Solutions\" for favorable positioning online, for advertising and promoting her political activity, and for black PR against EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva. 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