Jessikka Aro

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Jessikka Aro 2017

Jessikka Aro (* 1980 ) is a Finnish investigative journalist who works for the public broadcaster Yleisradio . She mainly writes about disinformation in social media . In March 2016 she was awarded the Bonnier Prize for Journalism for her research .

In 2014, Aro became aware of pro-Russian trolls in Finland. Aro researched how Russian propaganda is spread, what impact it has on public opinion and affects media freedom in Finland. Among other things, she spoke to former employees of the Troll Army in Saint Petersburg, who were paid to add hateful comments to articles and statements on the Internet that were critical of Russia and to spread untrue stories. Aro sees the systematic use of trolls and bots to suppress criticism of authoritarian states as part of hybrid warfare .

Because of her research, Aro herself came into the focus of the trolls. She was harassed both online and offline. Her medical record was published, private vacation photos hacked, fake pictures of Aro were circulated, she was insulted and received death threats via text messages and phone. The campaign against Aro was largely initiated by activist Johan Bäckman and the Finnish-language website MV-Lehti, operated from Spain, and its founder and operator Ilja Janitskin. The MV-Lehti site, which attracted attention with content that was hostile to foreigners and Europe, and false reports, defamed Aro as a “NATO agent” and “drug dealer”. Bäckman accused Aro, among other things, of compiling an illegal database of Putin supporters in Finland. In 2016 the police opened an investigation against Bäckman and Janitskin. On October 18, 2018, Bäckman was found guilty of defamation and stalking and received one year suspended prison sentence. Janitskin, who already had several criminal records, was sentenced to 22 months in prison and has to pay Aro 136,000 euros in compensation. Another MV-Lehti employee got three months probation.

With a crowdfunding campaign, Aro raised over 26,000 euros for a new study that is due to appear in February 2019 as a book entitled Vladimir Putin's Troll Empire .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Effort to Expose Russia's 'Troll Army' Draws Vicious Retaliation . In: The New York Times , May 30, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c Hate on the Net: A Finn's Fight Against Pro-Russian Trolls . In: Deutsche Welle , October 18, 2018.
  3. ^ The cyberspace war: propaganda and trolling as warfare tools . In: European View ( Springer Science + Business Media ). 15, No. 1, June 2016, pp. 121-132. doi: 10.1007 / s12290-016-0395-5 .
  4. ↑ Why Is Finland Able to Fend Off Putin's Information War? In: Foreign Policy , March 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ MV-lehteä vastaan ​​nousi boikottirintama - Kokoomusnuoret: Rahahanat saatava kiinni . In: Yle , January 11, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b Nick Miller: Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro's inquiry into Russian trolls stirs up a hornet's nest . In: The Sydney Morning Herald , March 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Bojan Pancevski: Victim declares war on Putin's fake news trolls . In: The Times , January 29, 2017.
  8. ^ Controversial academic charged over harassment, slander of Yle journalist . In: Yle , March 26, 2018.
  9. ↑ Vihasivusto tienaa isoja tuloja tunnettujen suomalaisyritysten mainoksilla . In: Kaleva , March 28, 2015.
  10. ^ Court in Finland finds pro-Kremlin trolls guilty of harassing journalist . In: Deutsche Welle , October 18, 2018.
  11. ↑ Finn jailed for 22 months over pro-Russian hate campaign . In: BBC , October 18, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Aro, Jessikka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish investigative journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1980