We have all probably heard of Internet trolls. Above all – about Russian trolls though the trolling itself was known earlier. It was being described as deliberate activity aimed at shaping emotions (mostly at inspiring anger or reluctance) as well as beliefs and opinions of others. Russian trolls are primarily interested in influencing the opinions of others and the emotions that accompany the reading of their posts are only meant to serve this purpose.

Facebook has as many as 2 billion 960 million users worldwide. In Poland it is over 24 million people (data is contradictory – from 18 to 27 million). Twitter has fewer users but many of them are politicians, journalists and experts. Hence a great temptation to make use of these media. And the Russians are very effective at it. Take to Russia

In the “Polish case” Moscow has several objectives. The simplest and most obvious is to generate pro-Russian emotions. However, it is extremely difficult for a number a reasons. First of all, Poles traditionally dislike Russia and the Russians. Even before the Russian aggression against Ukraine CBOS [an important opinion polling institute in Poland] conducted a survey which showed that 38% Poles resented the Russian nation. Pro-Russian sympathies were declared by 29% of the respondents, and 27% said they were indifferent.

Only the Arabs came out worse than the Russians. The Ukrainians can count on the sympathy of 41% and antipathy of 27% of the respondents. Now, presumably the dislike for the Russians and liking for the Ukrainians have increased. Secondly, historically speaking we have dreadful experiences with Russia, be it tsarist, Soviet or contemporary.

If so, the Russian propagandists have set themselves another target: to discourage Poles form helping Ukraine, including Ukrainian migrants. It’s worth adding that although they have difficulty getting through to Ukrainians, they are setting themselves a target in this field too: to make Ukrainian citizens ill-disposed towards Poland and the Poles. But that’s another issue.

Trolls play an important role here. This is a well-coordinated activity. Not later than ten years ago the so-called troll farms, i.e. sui generis “fake news factories” came into being. There is this famous, Petersburg-based, Internet Research Agency, initially housed in Olgino on the outskirts of this city – it’s the best-known institution of this kind. The trolls published and publish thousands of posts and comments on the Internet every day. It’s not an easy job, but the rewards are generous.

The activity of Russian trolls in the Polish Internet is clearly visible. It has increased significantly since the Russian aggression against Ukraine. It is estimated that at least 120 thousand fake news in Polish appear on the web every day. It means that the Russians have really sent lots of trolls to the “Polish front”, and for sure each of them shows great activity – as it results from press materials, the workers of “troll farms” have to publish a certain number of posts every day.

A large majority of trolls use templates that define exactly what and how they should write. Therefore in most cases it is easy to recognize their posts. Careful examination of people posting fake news can only assure us that we are dealing with a troll.

In the vast majority of cases Facebok or Twitter trolls use nicknames and have very few friends. Some of them ordinary Polish names and surname, giving minimum “about me” information – for example only the city they come from. Their command of Polish is usually good but not infrequently do they make mistakes or loan translations. Recently there have appeared trolls who speak Polish worse – is a there a shortage of Polish philologists?...

Are these trolls?

Let’s take a closer look at some active users on Twitter who definitely behave like trolls and in all probability are Russian trolls – though there is no hundred per cent evidence for that (and there is no chance to obtain it). They are perfectly anonymous, do not reveal their surnames or photos and their activity on Twitter is short-lived. What distinguishes the posts published by them from others? Firstly – decided anti-Ukrainianism. Secondly – more or less explicit Russophilia.

The first one allegedly lives in Toronto (the letters “KPK” on his profile may come from the name “Kongres Polonii Kanadyskiej” [Canadian Polish Congress]!) and he’s been on Twitter since August 2022. He writes about himself: “Ambassador of knowledge and common sense. Engineer and entrepreneur. Market information straight from the horse’s mouth”.

The profile photo, in all probability, is a jacket or a full suit advert; there are plenty of this kind on the Internet (“men’s jacket…”). And here a fistful of his latest tweets, written by the way in excellent Polish:

“I’m calling on everyone to support the farmers blocking Ukrainian border posts. It’s already not about the farmers’ pockets but also about the health of yourselves and your children. Ukrainian grain and meet – it’s a poison”.

“Before the Vienna campaign [victorious campaign against the Turks in 1683] Jan III Sobieski considered a strike on Podilia, Prussia or Moldavia. Instead of that he indebted the treasury and helped Austria in her struggle against Turkey. He believed that helping Austria was in Poland’s interest. We all know how it ended. After 440 years we are making the same mistake. The analogy: strong Turkey (Russia) vs. Austria (weak Ukraine). Everyone at home pushed for a war against Turkey (today against Russia). The treasury in debt to the tune of 0.5 million PLN (1683) vs. the budget in debt in favor Ukraine (100 billion PLN in 2022), lack of gratitude from the emperor Leopold vs. lack of gratitude form the Ukrainians”.

“The Ukrainians have never been our brothers. Since the second half of the 16th century they have murdered us in the most cruel ways possible. Today myths are being created about the Polish-Ukrainian brotherhood that has supposedly lasted for centuries”.

There is little point in commenting on these tweets. The Ukrainian grain is being sold to a few dozen countries (including the EU) and nobody complains about it, not unlike about the meat (which, in turn is not a significant Ukrainian export). The idea that Jan III Sobieski should have assisted Turkey against Austria appeared long ago, but the utter ahistoricism of it is astounding. It is pure nonsense to comparing the situation from centuries ago with today. Besides, Ukraine is very grateful to us for the help we’ve been offering (which is reflected for instance in the results of opinion polls or Ukrainian politicians’ official statements). And when it comes to the last tweet: before 19th century there had been no Ukrainian nation…

The next author who wrote on his profile: “for boorishness, <> [“Polin” means Poland in Hebrew], Ukrophilia, Banderism [Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist] there is a ban, out of the way!!!” is, in turn, openly and extremely pro-Russian – so much that it is stupefying. Here are examples of his tweets from the last period: SIGN UP TO OUR PAGE “ – said the tank company commander under the pseudonym ”.

“At an 80-year interval our grandfathers and great grandfathers burned down German equipment and now their grandchildren are sending the NATO equipment go to the scrap heap”.

Of course, in the first of the quoted tweets “Samara” is a Russian, in the latter – the grandfathers and their grandchildren are Russians. Another tweet by the same author is hardly surprising: “Poles are like little kids: one has to beat them on the Duda…” [play on words: Andrzej Duda – Polish president; duda, infml pej. – a willy].

And yet another author who has been active on Twitter for a short time, because she (he?) joined in August 2022. To another person’s tweet that US President Joe Biden will visit Poland, he recently replied: “Another idiot with his head stuck in the TV. The Polish nation should not humiliate itself in front of anyone. I will tell you straight out, you pea-brain that this applies to everyone, both the USA and Russia”

Here – referring to an opinion on the actions of the Ukrainian forces: “Maybe it would be reasonable to mention the deeds of both sides? To objectively report the events of the war? Nobody came up with that, right? In Poland you can only be for or against, there is never anything in between. Maybe that’s why historically speaking we are always fucked.” And on another occasion: “Just so that we don’t get a nuke from the Russkies as a thank you and catch up too late as always in our history...”.

This troll (because there is probably no doubt about his provenance) acts reasonably: he is not pro-Russian (he refers to the Russians as to “Russkies”), but he is anti-Ukrainian, threatens with an atomic bomb and tries to prove that Kyiv is also to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Contemporaneity and history

Of course, Poles are threatened with refugees, with the fact that after the introduction of the Ukrainian language, they will get into local governments and into the Sejm [lower house of the Polish parliament] – as if thousands of newcomers suddenly and unexpectedly received Polish citizenship (because it is necessary to run for parliament) or another European Union country (this in turn would give the right to participate in local elections). And according to the Polish Ministry of Interior: “the President of Poland is not bound by any deadlines in cases for granting Polish citizenship. In practice, the decision of the President is currently expected for more than a year”. In practice, however, the procedure is longer and can take several years.

But the trolls don’t care. We can easily find them on Twitter using the hashtag #StopUkrainizacjiPolski [No to the Ukrainisation of Poland]. Of course, this hashtag is also used by some Polish politicians and journalists, but they are easy to recognize because they are not anonymous.

The author, who joined in August 2022: “As a reminder, because some have forgotten whose interests they should serve and where are the borders of my HOMELAND Aha! and #StopUkrainizacjiPolski. Now!!”. The same, in response to the post of Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński that “Poland will be safer if Russia is defeated”, wrote: “Hands off Poland, Ukrainian minions #ToNieNaszaWojna [It’s not our war], #StopUkrainizationPolski!”.

Another one, on Twitter since February 2022: “This year, don’t forget to add to your tax declaration that you have 40 million Ukrainians to maintain. #StopUkrainizacjiPolski”.

Reading tweets with this hashtag is quite difficult; anti-Ukrainian slogans are intertwined with anti-Semitic slogans (“#StopJudaizacjiPolski” [No to the Judaisation of Poland], “Pole in Poland is a host, not a goy and a pauper”), and pro-Russian slogans with hostile ones towards the Polish authorities, especially towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President of Poland (“Who wants peace ... does not supply weapons / yes, Yendrey Judah… [allusion to Andrew Duda]”). Posts full of emotions and hostility dominate.

But trolls are not only interested in the present. A lot of their entries are about history. The most typical method of proceeding is to point to Ukrainians as the main perpetrator of crimes committed against Poles. In this case, two narratives are used: the first is that the Ukrainian Insurgent Army committed a crime on a large scale and Poles should remember about it. And the other is that Stepan Bandera and the UPA [Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiia – Ukrainian Insurgent Army] and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists are revered in Ukraine. If so, Poles certainly should not help Ukraine and Ukrainians.

The author of this article had the opportunity to “talk” to a Russian troll on the Internet several times.

And so, for example, in July 2022, in the “Echoes of History” group on Facebook, an entry appeared about the Soviet falsification of the history of Katyń – in reference to the article “Komisja Maddena, czyli odkłamywanie Katynia [Madden Commission or Putting Katyń straight” on the website Kresy 1939 (kresy1939.pl). An obviously troll Internet user reacted unexpectedly two weeks later by posting a photo of clearly friendly Soviet and American soldiers (probably from May 1945) and writing “Americans didn’t give a shit”.

To the critical reaction of the author of this article, he wrote back: “Go and bow down to <> and <>!” and posted a photo of the Stepan Bandera monument in Lviv and people with red and black flags. When I started discussing with him (among others, after the entries presenting the crimes of the NKVD), he replied: “Everyone knows, nothing new. Everyone knows that the USSR is no good, but to be a tomboy of the Banderites and to be proud of it is to hit the bottom”. His further comments were definitely less substantive, e.g. “What weak and twisted rubbish, you pea-brain...”

This example is very typical. The original post on Facebook concerned history – Soviet crimes committed against Poles. The troll’s posts, on the other hand, talked about UPA and Stepan Bandera supporters in Ukraine. He published similar ones on other occasions as well. It is worth noting that his aggressive tone suggesting that he was talking to a Polish fan of the UPA tradition was absolutely pointless – the post about the Madden Commission had no connection with Ukraine, Ukrainians, UPA or Bandera.

Apparently, the Russian trolls are tasked with posting enough comments on Facebook with such content, and since there are not enough posts about the UPA or Bandera, they write them anywhere. Apparently, one of the tips for trolls is attacking Poles for allegedly “yielding to the Banderites” – except that in the quoted discussion, the troll had no reason to attack anyone like that.

It is hardly surprising though: the above-mentioned “debater” has a profile on Facebook that says very little; constantly about two hundred friends (many of whom were like him) and nothing more. But he is still active and posting anti-Ukrainian posts.

There are many like him. They post anti-Ukrainian posts in many strange places, e.g. in the past, entries about the UPA could be found under information about the performances of Ukrainian artistic groups in Poland. Apart from social media such as Facebook or Twitter, Russian trolls are very active, especially on the websites of Polish newspapers and magazines, where they publish comments under articles.

Is anyone counteracting?

Unfortunately, it is clear that Russian trolls are well organized on the Internet – but there is no organized Polish counteraction to their actions. It is not uncommon for other participants in the discussion to react critically to anti-Ukrainian posts, but this usually happens by accident.

On Facebook, there was a page called “Russian Fifth Column in Poland” informing, inter alia, about Russian disinformation and troll activities, but unfortunately it was closed down. So, by and large, the trolls act without any major impediment. Moreover, it happens that the message is bolstered by authentic supporters of the Russian narrative or those ill- disposed towards Ukraine. The first are scarce but loud; the latter prevail in number, being often linked with the so-called Borderlands milieus. Their knowledge of Ukraine is limited almost exclusively to the Volhynia massacre, and they perceive everything through the prism of Volhynia, UPA and Stepan Bandera. The war on the Internet is developing miserably for us: Moscow has perfectly prepared divisions whereas we have poorly equipped guerilla fighters – at best. – Piotr Kościński
– Translated by Dominik Szczęsny-Kostanecki

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists