Russian bots/trolls

[PersonaNonGarter]

Hi @MNHQ

please could you tell us what you are doing about Russian trolls/bots? They are on MN. Lightening fast responses to anything about Ukraine/energy.

It’s concerning. Disinformation, sowing discord etc.

Hi @PersonaNonGarter

Can you report the users to us using the report button? We're post-moderated, so rely on reports to flag anything causing concern. We're pretty quick to check things out, so if we do find trolls, they would be swiftly dealt with.

I did report one - you said you would take it down in an email to me, it is still up. I’ll send more but these guys/bots are programmed fast and they are all over this.

@PersonaNonGarter I think I know the post you mean - it looks like we banned the poster but left the thread to run as the discussion had moved on. We're sorry that we didn't communicate this to you. As Lily said, please continue to report your suspicions to us.

Hello @LilyMumsnet and @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet

This is happening over on the FWR threads as well. Overnight, on one highly relevant topic it looked like a botting experiment.

Is it botting? Or just co-ordinated trolling?

And can you remove the posts as I think many posters are now just ignoring them. Doesn’t it mean that the people behind it are in effect still being rewarded in their efforts?

Hi @Helleofabore - hopefully you'll have seen our response to your email about this by now, but we just wanted to confirm that we've banned multiple accounts and deleted a number of posts on the thread in question.

We try not to be too heavy-handed with deletions as it can make it seem like a thread has gone seriously off track, but we can spot if someone is posting from more than one account (or under multiple usernames on the same account) and we always ban such posters.

Hope that answers your questions but please let us know if you have any further concerns.

Thanks @DawnMumsnet . I will just continue to report then.