‘They Are Not Organic’: Ukraine MoD Called Out After Giving Thanks to ‘NAFO’ Trolls
02:21 GMT 29.08.2022 (Updated: 12:57 GMT 14.04.2023)
© Photo : Twitter / @DefenceU
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Since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in February, Ukraine has often resorted to outright disinformation and even all sorts of memes in its own struggle on social media, trying to win the sympathy of people in the events in the most accessible way online.
Ukraine may rely on massive financial and military aid from the West to cherish all sorts of hopes for an "imminent" victory in the ongoing events, but thanking a group of anonymous trolls and a viral meme for "supporting" and "opposing" Russia is hitting a new level.
Earlier Sunday, the official Twitter page of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry wrote a post of gratitude towards the "North Atlantic Fella Organization," or NAFO, which is a group of Twitter users dedicated to raising money for the Ukrainian cause in the current crisis, and the Georgian Legion in Ukraine in particular, as well as trying to suppress the Russian point of view online, primarily through memes that feature Shiba Inu and its Cheems the meme dog variant.
We usually express gratitude to our international partners for the security assistance. But today we want to give a shout-out to a unique entity - North Atlantic Fellas Organization #NAFO.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 28, 2022
Thanks for your fierce fight against kremlin’s propaganda &trolls.
We salute you, fellas! pic.twitter.com/AfDnXf7pfc
"The official account of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense praising the pro-imperialist 'NAFO' trolls is clear confirmation they are not organic," journalist Benjamin Norton tweeted Sunday. "The US and European governments have a long history of running their own bot and troll farms to spread warmongering imperialist propaganda."
Usually, the followers of the trolling machine are engaged in simply spamming targets with photoshops and all sorts of jokes and mockery. One of the more popular phrases among the group is "you pronounced this nonsense. Not me," which was coined by Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov in a verbal altercation with trolls this June.
The most embarrassing post from this account yet https://t.co/DZV9xxISGH
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) August 28, 2022
Most often, the accounts of Russian officials and government agencies become victims of the unofficial army of trolls. According to a July report by Vice, the trolls are organized on a server in Discord, where they discuss their pro-Kiev charity events and Russian special military operation.
These are frequently created to enrage Russian sympathizers on Twitter and to celebrate Ukrainian military victories, those that regularly occur only online. The troll group's strategy is to bombard tweets with spam that labels the user as a "Russian propagandist" and other unwarranted assaults when the tweets' message conflicts with their perspective of the Ukrainian conflict.
The apparent goal is to manipulate the audience into believing that the target's counterarguments are invalid because they are being made in response to someone with the avatar of a cartoon dog, hijack respectful conversations taking place under the targeted tweet, and ultimately bully the target with extreme aggression into changing their opinions or engaging in self-censorship. The self-congratulatory trolling by "NAFO" members under the targeted topic also serves to intensify their psychological assault.
Last month, Vice noted that the US military members - active and former - were behind this "improvised" movement. Behind the cartoon characters stand real military men: Jack McCain, helicopter pilot and son of the late US Senator John McCain, CNN analyst and retired US Army officer Mark Hertling, and US Army Major General Patrick Donahoe. The trolling was even joined by the incumbent House member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
However, Norton went on to point out that the US government already has a history of creating fake news and social media trolling campaigns, as in 2020, CLS Strategies, a PR company with alleged close ties to the US government, came under fire in 2020 for using social media to spread false information.
It has reportedly disseminated propaganda for the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and Mexico as well as in Bolivia, per the Washington Post report.
Naturally, Norton's post was soon attacked by NAFO supporters, who continued to bombard responses to the post with memes.
Hey again Beniben. I hope I can answer all you conspiracy theories with this simple picture. CIA, there is no CIA. However NAFO controls both NATO and western governments. Do you trust me now Beniben? pic.twitter.com/g30G00v6Da
— Viking NAFO Fella 🇸🇪 🇺🇦 🇹🇼 (@NafoSouth) August 28, 2022
— 🔥sparkles🔥 (@aprilsparkles1) August 28, 2022
"I always appreciate how serious and grounded in reality your reporting is ben thank you for blowing the whistle on this conspiracy," one of the so-called "fellas" replied to the journalist. "You should get in touch with the some big names in news, im sure they won't laugh you out of the room."
To that, another Twitterian countered: "Gvt spun propaganda campaigns are nothing new. You should know, you joined in on them, incl calling Russians orcs (nice dehumanization)," noting the common Ukrainian narrative that has developed from the very beginning of the special operation that the Russians as a nation are not entirely human, for which the official Kiev authorities, the media and sympathizers use the derogatory names of "orcs" and "fascists."
Ukrainian authorities and propaganda have made serious miscalculations in their actions several times over the past few months, including quite often extolling Nazis and Nazi symbols in their social media campaigns.
It is worth mentioning that at the end of March, the official account of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the country's parliament, published a post demanding NATO to "close" the sky over Ukraine (something that is notably not asked anymore), drawing parallels with the photo of Hamburg during the Third Reich in World War II after one of the Allied bombings in 1943 and the picture of the alleged destruction in the city Kharkov in the course of the special military operation.
The post remained in the official accounts of Ukrainian agencies for about a day, before the public outrage of many followers forced the social media managers of Ukrainian accounts to replace Nazi Hamburg with much more "neutral" London in 1940, which was bombed by the Nazis, contrary to the previous allusion.
