The Troll War in 2020: Misinformation At Home But Mostly Abroad (Part 2)

2. Send In the Trolls 

At this point, if an asteroid came barrelling through space and slammed into Earth, I'm not sure many would be all that surprised. That's how strange the year 2020 has been. You have in no particular order a pandemic, earthquakes, fires, murder hornets, giant locusts, record flooding, protests, riots and good golly gee oh my, deep breath, we're only a few months in. It's like we've taken the past 40 years and rolled it all into one. 

Seeing all these trolls thrive on Facebook at such a historic moment shouldn't be a surprise. They have a captive audience--upwards of 40 million Americans are reportedly out of work. But, who are these trolls anyhow, and what makes us believe trolls of all people are public policy experts? 

In examining these trolls profiles, all were shells of actual people, because the 20 trolls I saw had 3-4 pictures on their profile, max. These profiles were only a few days old. All had very American-sounding names--several used their first name as their first and last names. Doh! Also, they posted links on their profiles to songs like "Send In The Clowns" and even donated a few dollars toward their favorite charities. And so I ask you; how could they not be real? 

I'm kidding, of course. Obviously, skimming any of these profiles would have elicited a crusty look and sideways glance. Why would their credibility be a question to any real folks? Most important, why are so many Americans so gullible responding to profiles that were so poorly crafted that even my 10-year-old son pointed out the fakeness? Aside from perhaps a fun little listen of a song on these profiles, what part of any of these were legit? According to my more tech-savvy son, these profiles were trash. 

Along with these strange yet consistent details to trolls' profiles, there were other more concerning images. Each had decidedly pro-China slants--military might and rows of Chinese soldiers marching in lockstep alongside big, gleaming missiles. If you think about it for a half-second, it's a brilliant move on the part of the troll factory. This virus with which we're all dealing originated in China; at least that's what news reports say. Why not stoke the flames by making our perception a reality? 

Since you see posts of flowers and kids when you see most normal Facebook profiles, it came off rather odd that someone would let this all go uncensored. Whose fault was that? Facebook's? The site the troll visited? Don't these trolls have enough work to do in their country than to bother with ours?  Above all, there was this hateful, almost insolent vitriol in every post--as if we in the US were being mocked. Who would stand for that? As I perused these posts initially, it bewildered me more. 

In years past this kind of propaganda I was seeing came from Russia. Or, North Korea. Which is why the recent State Department report last May that I went over in Part 1 made sense. But, why China? After all, relations pre-President Donald Trump seemed good. Trade was at an all-time high between the two countries and China even appeared to be trending toward--wait for it--democracy (!) in certain aspects. Millions of Americans now live and work in China as well (!!). 

The NBA plays preseason and regular season basketball games there. (Well, it PLAYED but that's a story for another day.) Yao Ming is a cultural ambassador, for crying out loud, after having played his entire career in the States. Our own Stephon Marbury coaches a pro team in Shanghai, having had a statue put up in his honor in China after a storied pro career there. 

Besides, Chinese people seem to like the same things we do. That's good, right? They watch the same Hollywood movies, they ride tricked-out motorbikes and have crazy haircuts, they even wear neck tattoos and hey, they even drink Starbucks and walk around with those white AirPods sticking out of their ears like antennae. What's not to like? 

So why on Earth would anyone want all this goodwill ruined in the blink of an eye with some insane misinformation war? It didn't make a lick of sense. Granted, President Trump has bolted into the room during his tenure and slammed the door on various US-China trade deals like some used car salesman big-talking some poor young couple using sweeping hand gestures behind a greasy pompadour. 

It also didn't help matters when the US first blamed China for Covid-19 landing on its shores--then didn't--then backtracked and said China was responsible AND that it came from a laboratory in Wuhan, a city about the same size as New York. (I still have to wonder if a lab cat didn't knock a vial of the virus over on accident, spilling its deadly contents on the floor. It's a great meme if you have yet to see it.) 

But wait; there's more. Lest you think that trolls only focus their time and energy on China, they most assuredly don't. There are pro-Trump bots and trolls for Joe Biden and trolls for this, that and the other latest outrage! This equal opportunity trolling is feeding a frenzy for information that is unprecedented. 

You even have reports of militant factions from your own country creating their own troll factories stateside. All this attention is turning presidents and politicans the world over into rockstars! Before you'd only hear about these groups and others in nightly news blurbs. Now, they're in the spotlight 24-7--whether they like it or not. And everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has an opinion they'd like to share about all of it--on Facebook. 

So, as a former investigative journalist with a J-school degree that's been worthless up til now AND having nothing but time on his now-chapped hands, I decided to delve deeper into this strange phenomenon. One thing I learned having covered justice and courts for many years is that if you want to get to know someone, especially someone with bad intentions, you must first get on their level. 

Even though I've never engaged in such outlandish behavior with Facebook trolls, I had to find a way in. If you’re talking to someone who's facing serious charges at his upcoming court date, for example. you don’t go in soft. You go in fast, aggressive and hard--like you not only know what in the world you’re doing, you already know their case inside and out. 

The other thing I noticed is that Facebook doesn't necessarily flag any comment unless you use profanity or hate speech. So anything about someone's politics or religion--which I'd never, ever talk about in real life--that's fair game. Although that's literally the first thing my banker father said you never, ever, EVER mention in public conversation. 

And so by apparently not keeping my dad's learn-ed words in mind, I went against everything I'd ever done and so would embark on this 48-hour mission on which my wits would be tested as well as my patience. You know, the kind of stuff that these so-called Chinese trolls are engaged in live from Russia, or Africa, or even America, 24-7. They're pros at this stuff. 

If this is a misinformation war of sorts, and, well, we've already witnessed one biological with this Coronavirus and yet another that is logistical in terms of severed supply chains, are we truly on the brink of a misinformation war as well? Moreover, how could I--or Brian Brian, because I need a good name for a troll--engage with people I assume would be millenials or zoomers far more tech-savvy than I? Well, here goes nothing; I was about to find out. 

NEXT UP: PART 3.