tomususan's review against another edition
4.0
3,5 rounded up because of how important the topic is.
Chaotically written, author jumps from topic to topic, from person to a person and includes a lot of personal histories (her being stalked, bullied online, her trial against slander etc.) in between which does not help.
Even though the book is fairly long (17h of audiobook), it seems but fluffed up and without many information to support her claims. The narration seems be biased, "If person from US wrote an article it OBVIOUSLY reflects the reality" / "If a Russian wrote an article it is EVIDENTLY made up". Author often doesn't support either of her claims.
I was expecting more detailed information on tactics of misinformation and I ended up quite disappointed.
Chaotically written, author jumps from topic to topic, from person to a person and includes a lot of personal histories (her being stalked, bullied online, her trial against slander etc.) in between which does not help.
Even though the book is fairly long (17h of audiobook), it seems but fluffed up and without many information to support her claims. The narration seems be biased, "If person from US wrote an article it OBVIOUSLY reflects the reality" / "If a Russian wrote an article it is EVIDENTLY made up". Author often doesn't support either of her claims.
I was expecting more detailed information on tactics of misinformation and I ended up quite disappointed.
sofijakryz's review against another edition
5.0
I wish this book were published some 2-3 years ago. Prior to the pandemic. Or even earlier. In case you saw the "Fargo" series, this book radiated the V. M. Varga vibe non-stop. Same level of enragement, sense of hopelessness, insecurity and knowledge that the evil won't receive the retribution it deserves. Considering that a similar parallel also occurred when watching the series, I am now beginning to wonder whether "Narwhal" - from its name to operational principles - was a reference.
Another association was "Wag the Dog". Because there are parallels. But I digress.
What Aro describes in the book, is essentially a systematic and malevolent abuse of written and unwritten rules and principles in order to manipulate public opinions by a player who knows that the other side is restricted by the rules. Legislation. Public opinions. Swing voters. And the fact that in democracy, you have to respect every single bumpkin. Because that's how the system works and in order for it to work, you have to respect it. Bumpkins, naive innocents and malevolents being part of the package and as worth as anyone else. They have to be.
But that's exactly what the trolls exploit. In order to win, they spit on the rules. Because winning the brains of the masses takes all you have.
The title of the book is straighforward and suggestive, but honest. Aro describes the principles of how freedom of speech, mass and social media gets abused by the Kremlin and their proxies: the troll farms (where do you think those absurd or dehumanising comments in the media and social media come from?), fake news and propaganda websites, hate speech, fake profiles, viral videos, purchased/bribed high-stake businesses (or their boards, or their shares), especially in areas reliant on limited industries somehow related to oil/energy, dirty influence or control of small, local media, radical politicians or some 5th column individuals - if not through money, then through intimidation, politics, diplomacy or violence, breaches and attempts at unauthorised information, its theft and distortion, leaks of the targeted individuals' private details, compromising material, incitement of the radicals or susceptible members of the public and setting them against the targeted individuals. And all under the flag of "freedom of speech", "alternative opinions", etc. etc.
Aro interviews individuals targeted by the trolls for their diplomacy, academic or other research, NGO, journalism, think tank or open-source anti-disinformation, anti-propaganda work, ranging from Lithuanian ex-ambassador to Hungary (Renatas Juška) to Bill Browder (I knew about the Magnitsky act but only after reading this book I finally understood what, sanctions apart, it is about - and that was some horrible and tragic knowledge) to Elliot Higgins (Bellingcat) to Liz Wahl and draws heavily from her own experience, being defamed for years, intimidated, threatened and verbally attacked for simply writing about this - information wars, propaganda and manipulation of public opinion.
My only criticism is that although she does deeply investigate individual cases - the stories and individual experiences of the above listed individuals and other interviewees falling into the categories described above, sometimes I wanted a bit more analysis on the tools targeted against simple internet users. The same cat memes and stuff - that's how the susceptible are enticed. Coincidentally, talked to someone about Brexit and the Cambdridge Analytica scandal recently and we agreed this was totally shit - we are tools in this game and we have no way of protecting ourselves. There is no way to control this - governments are restricted by their own legislation (and to an extent, they have to be). And "Facebook" etc. are powerfull enough to give 0 fucks (or nearly that) about what the gov thinks.
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. Do you know City of London? Story has it one of the Kings of England wanted to fill their treasury with the gold from the City. Well, the City recruited mercenaries. An army strong enough to tell the King go bugger off. And bugger off he did.
That's exactly how I feel about the social media these days. I reported trolls spreading disinformation on vaccines and medicines on FB. Nope. Trolls don't breach the rules. USA gov doesn't own FB, so it can't tell what to do. EU attempts something to impose stricter regulation. But lets see whether it fares better than the said King.
"Black Mirror" and Andrew Scott scenario :/
Aro writes about things like this too. Lack of regulation, that is.
At least, us being mere pawns/tools, no one seeks to destroy us. But I feel so unsafe in the internet. I lost at least two of my relatives to the propaganda of these trolls. With little hope that they will recover their minds. They are so brainwashed they immediately hate you for trying to infer things may be different from what they've been persuaded to believe. Somebody I thought my dear friend said such stupid and horrible things when the war in Ukraine broke out. Higher education, a degree in science, mind you! Nope. Not a factor. My dad's friend - too. In the 1990s that was one of the people that were (para)military volunteers before the official army force was established! And the trolls got in his head too. What is similar among these people - they are anti-establishment to varying degree, sit non-stop in their FB/Whatsapp bubbles and consume tons of memes, alternative facts, conspiracy theories and just drown. Trolls steal their minds. FFS - this also affects public health. I am pretty sure a lot of those anti-vax theories and alternative facts are stirred by these guys. They did influence COVID-19 vaccination coverage in my country, esp in those areas where Kremlin-TV was more widely used.
Not only the media is scary. I long suspected that the extreme right-wing and various radicals in my country are fed by their money - the narratives are too similar to those in Russia. Racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-EU, anti-NATO lines. And some perverse interest in issues like paedophilia and their inflation (compare to Pizzagate). There are radicals that build their political careers on that. Aro writes about the same patterns in Europe. Finland. Serbia. UK.
Pretty worrying. But then, in East Europe we always knew many of the things Aro writes about.
What is good about this book, though, is that it may be quite an eye opener. Especially for those uninitiated with the Iron Curtain. And explain why the Baltics screamed for 3 decades that a certain country in the East is devil incarnate. I thought the war in Ukraine would make this redundant, but with the media gradually forgetting about the war in Ukraine, I feel the message hasn't quite gone through with the masses.
One sad thing is that those who may need the knowledge in this book most may already be beyond saving. So share this book with those who can still be protected from trolls, be they from Kremlin or anywhere else.
Another association was "Wag the Dog". Because there are parallels. But I digress.
What Aro describes in the book, is essentially a systematic and malevolent abuse of written and unwritten rules and principles in order to manipulate public opinions by a player who knows that the other side is restricted by the rules. Legislation. Public opinions. Swing voters. And the fact that in democracy, you have to respect every single bumpkin. Because that's how the system works and in order for it to work, you have to respect it. Bumpkins, naive innocents and malevolents being part of the package and as worth as anyone else. They have to be.
But that's exactly what the trolls exploit. In order to win, they spit on the rules. Because winning the brains of the masses takes all you have.
The title of the book is straighforward and suggestive, but honest. Aro describes the principles of how freedom of speech, mass and social media gets abused by the Kremlin and their proxies: the troll farms (where do you think those absurd or dehumanising comments in the media and social media come from?), fake news and propaganda websites, hate speech, fake profiles, viral videos, purchased/bribed high-stake businesses (or their boards, or their shares), especially in areas reliant on limited industries somehow related to oil/energy, dirty influence or control of small, local media, radical politicians or some 5th column individuals - if not through money, then through intimidation, politics, diplomacy or violence, breaches and attempts at unauthorised information, its theft and distortion, leaks of the targeted individuals' private details, compromising material, incitement of the radicals or susceptible members of the public and setting them against the targeted individuals. And all under the flag of "freedom of speech", "alternative opinions", etc. etc.
Aro interviews individuals targeted by the trolls for their diplomacy, academic or other research, NGO, journalism, think tank or open-source anti-disinformation, anti-propaganda work, ranging from Lithuanian ex-ambassador to Hungary (Renatas Juška) to Bill Browder (I knew about the Magnitsky act but only after reading this book I finally understood what, sanctions apart, it is about - and that was some horrible and tragic knowledge) to Elliot Higgins (Bellingcat) to Liz Wahl and draws heavily from her own experience, being defamed for years, intimidated, threatened and verbally attacked for simply writing about this - information wars, propaganda and manipulation of public opinion.
My only criticism is that although she does deeply investigate individual cases - the stories and individual experiences of the above listed individuals and other interviewees falling into the categories described above, sometimes I wanted a bit more analysis on the tools targeted against simple internet users. The same cat memes and stuff - that's how the susceptible are enticed. Coincidentally, talked to someone about Brexit and the Cambdridge Analytica scandal recently and we agreed this was totally shit - we are tools in this game and we have no way of protecting ourselves. There is no way to control this - governments are restricted by their own legislation (and to an extent, they have to be). And "Facebook" etc. are powerfull enough to give 0 fucks (or nearly that) about what the gov thinks.
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. Do you know City of London? Story has it one of the Kings of England wanted to fill their treasury with the gold from the City. Well, the City recruited mercenaries. An army strong enough to tell the King go bugger off. And bugger off he did.
That's exactly how I feel about the social media these days. I reported trolls spreading disinformation on vaccines and medicines on FB. Nope. Trolls don't breach the rules. USA gov doesn't own FB, so it can't tell what to do. EU attempts something to impose stricter regulation. But lets see whether it fares better than the said King.
"Black Mirror" and Andrew Scott scenario :/
Aro writes about things like this too. Lack of regulation, that is.
At least, us being mere pawns/tools, no one seeks to destroy us. But I feel so unsafe in the internet. I lost at least two of my relatives to the propaganda of these trolls. With little hope that they will recover their minds. They are so brainwashed they immediately hate you for trying to infer things may be different from what they've been persuaded to believe. Somebody I thought my dear friend said such stupid and horrible things when the war in Ukraine broke out. Higher education, a degree in science, mind you! Nope. Not a factor. My dad's friend - too. In the 1990s that was one of the people that were (para)military volunteers before the official army force was established! And the trolls got in his head too. What is similar among these people - they are anti-establishment to varying degree, sit non-stop in their FB/Whatsapp bubbles and consume tons of memes, alternative facts, conspiracy theories and just drown. Trolls steal their minds. FFS - this also affects public health. I am pretty sure a lot of those anti-vax theories and alternative facts are stirred by these guys. They did influence COVID-19 vaccination coverage in my country, esp in those areas where Kremlin-TV was more widely used.
Not only the media is scary. I long suspected that the extreme right-wing and various radicals in my country are fed by their money - the narratives are too similar to those in Russia. Racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-EU, anti-NATO lines. And some perverse interest in issues like paedophilia and their inflation (compare to Pizzagate). There are radicals that build their political careers on that. Aro writes about the same patterns in Europe. Finland. Serbia. UK.
Pretty worrying. But then, in East Europe we always knew many of the things Aro writes about.
What is good about this book, though, is that it may be quite an eye opener. Especially for those uninitiated with the Iron Curtain. And explain why the Baltics screamed for 3 decades that a certain country in the East is devil incarnate. I thought the war in Ukraine would make this redundant, but with the media gradually forgetting about the war in Ukraine, I feel the message hasn't quite gone through with the masses.
One sad thing is that those who may need the knowledge in this book most may already be beyond saving. So share this book with those who can still be protected from trolls, be they from Kremlin or anywhere else.
laurakatarooma's review against another edition
5.0
Tää kirja järisyttää maailmaa ja aukasee silmiä. Pelottavia juttuja.
anks14's review against another edition
3.0
Książka traktuje o mega istotnym, zwłaszcza w kontekście inwazji na Ukrainę, temacie i pierwsze parę rozdziałów faktycznie czyta się jak thriller, który dodatkowo bardziej przeraża, bo te praktyki FSB, które teraz sobie uświadamiamy w szerszym kontekście, funkcjonują od bardzo dawna. Niestety, ten nastrój się wytraca, kiedy autorka zaczyna opisywać swój przypadek zostania ofiarą rosyjskich trolli. Robi to w taki sposób, że nie można pozbyć się wrażenia, że przesadza i za bardzo się przejmuje komciami w internecie. Totalnie wierzę autorce, że trolle zniszczyły jej dotychczasowe życie, ale przez ten vibe płatka śniegu można ulec pokusie niepotraktowania jej doświadczenia i naszego zagrożenia z należytą powagą.
hannaem's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
A must-read for everyone about Russian misinformation and smear campaigns, including the one against the author herself. Dense and full of information, lots of rabbit holes to fall down. I'd give this 5 stars if it wasn't for the lack of proofreading — quite a few typos, punctuation errors, unnecessary anglicisms and awkwardly translated quotations (in my Finnish edition at least).
antti_o's review against another edition
4.0
Loistava kirja aiheesta, josta meidän kannattaa olla huolissamme. Naapurin ei-niin-mukava vaikutus tulee ilmi yllättävän monelta suunnalta.
Teksti on sujuvaa, kirjoittaja on kyllä perehtynyt hyvin aiheeseensa. Jos kirja olisi vain hupaisaa fiktiota, se ei herättäisi noin paljon pahaa mieltä äärihörhöjen joukossa.
Ja kirjamessuilla viimeistään nähtiin, että kirja on valitettavan totta, sinnekin nämä nimetyt häiriköt sitten ilmestyivät.
Tämä on tärkeä kirja, lukekaa se!
Teksti on sujuvaa, kirjoittaja on kyllä perehtynyt hyvin aiheeseensa. Jos kirja olisi vain hupaisaa fiktiota, se ei herättäisi noin paljon pahaa mieltä äärihörhöjen joukossa.
Ja kirjamessuilla viimeistään nähtiin, että kirja on valitettavan totta, sinnekin nämä nimetyt häiriköt sitten ilmestyivät.
Tämä on tärkeä kirja, lukekaa se!
anettelai's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5