{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='ONLY ON AP Lithuania elves combat Russian trolls' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d2bed8eafeecae1e4404' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d2bed8eafeecae1e4404' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nONLY ON AP Lithuania elves combat Russian trolls\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eThere is a peaceful feeling at the Christmas market in Vilnius as people come to admire the festive lights.But behind the jovial ho-ho-hos and Christmas shopping lies an increasing disquiet in the small Baltic state over a widespread...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eThere is a peaceful feeling at the Christmas market in Vilnius as people come to admire the festive lights.But behind the jovial ho-ho-hos and Christmas shopping lies an increasing disquiet in the small Baltic state over a widespread perception that Lithuania is the target of an information war from Russia.\"Elves\" against \"trolls\" - it sounds like something out of \"The Lord of the Rings.\" But to Ricardas Savukynas, the battle he's fighting is no fantasy. The 43-year-old business consultant and blogger is part of an online army of Lithuanian volunteers trying to counter what they see as pro-Russian propaganda.These elves patrol social media and the comment sections of Lithuanian news sites to expose fake accounts and knock down false news stories they say were posted by pro-Russian \"trolls.\"Most group members only meet online, coordinating their efforts on Facebook Messenger or Skype.The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently said it suspects Russian interference in the U.S. election, an assessment challenged by President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.On Friday, President Barack Obama told reporters that the U.S. can match Russia tit-for-tat in terms of cyber muscle if it has to, in what was his strongest suggestion to date that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been well aware of campaign email hacking.And earlier this month, Germany's intelligence agency said Russia is trying to destabilise German society with propaganda and cyberattacks ahead of the country's general election.But Lithuania and its Baltic neighbours, Estonia and Latvia, feel particularly exposed. After five decades under Moscow's control, they turned to the West as the Soviet Union collapsed.They joined the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), infuriating Russia, which suddenly had the Western military alliance on its doorstep.Delfi, one of the main news sites in Lithuania, found its comment sections filling up with pro-Russian posts leading up to the Ukraine crisis, said Monika Garbaciauskaite, the Editor-in-chief. Delfi now has full-time staff deleting the most aggressive comments, she said.\"We noticed this increase in the number of the comments and of strange trolling already before Crimea,\" she said, explaining the burden it creates filtering between legitimate opinions expressing different points of view and organised trolling.Lithuanian authorities sympathise with the work of the volunteer \"elves.\"Tomas Ceponis, an analyst at the Lithuanian military's strategic communications department, says information campaigns targeting Lithuania reflect a well thought-out strategy, involving sharply focused messages for different groups of the population.\"We recognised, especially recently that we have a pretty huge and long lasting disinformation campaign against our society,\" he said. \"It's much easier to count tanks or to count planes but it's pretty difficult to count the impact (of propaganda).\"It's more complicated for the \"elves\" to deal with sites run by real people who create, like and share pro-Russian posts in Lithuanian. The \"elves\" suspect many of them are acting on behalf of Russia.But social media networks won't close them down unless they're violating community standards.Laurynas Ragelskis, 39, runs a website in Lithuania and is active on Facebook with posts claiming there is no Russian military presence in eastern Ukraine.He has never been charged with any wrongdoing, but has been named personally in an annual report by State security department as one of main pro-Russian, anti-West and anti-NATO activists.Ragelskis says he doesn't receive funding or instructions from Russia, claiming sites like his are no more than a hobby run by people who \"have broader and more socially-minded views,\" than those who post \"photos of kittens or flowers\".Ragelskis does not see Russia as a threat. \"Putin is showing very clearly that he knows how to adapt to changing global circumstances,\" he said.That vision of Russia and Putin is shared by some of Lithuania's ethnic Russians who decry what they call the \"anti-Russian propaganda\" of Lithuanian officials, and many hold pro-Kremlin views.Roman Nutsubidze, 30, expressed frustration that the West doesn't see Putin as a good leader who has restored national pride. He said he loves Lithuania, but thinks Putin has no reason to want to interfere in the Baltic States.\"I don't see what he has done bad,\" Nutsubidze said. \"I don't actually see it.\"Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said there is a concerted effort underway to brainwash the Lithuanian population with falsehoods.The government is trying to fight back.It recently launched an anti-espionage campaign on Lithuanian TV channels, urging citizens to report if they notice anything suspicious on the street or on the web.\"A lie is not an alternative point of view,\" Linkevicius said. \"One can say 'it's freedom of speech, everyone can say whatever he wants.' Of course, I agree. But if it's (a) resourced propaganda machine brainwashing people, it's not just an alternative point of view. It's a weapon.\"Vilnius - 30 November 2016++NIGHT SHOTS++1. Various of Vilnius Christmas market, small band performing, visitors at stalls, Christmas tree with lights2. Various of Vilnius city centre and traffic, pedestrians3. Ricardas Savukynas (left), blogger, speaking with reporter4. Cutaway hands5. SOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Ricardas Savukynas, 43-year-old blogger and self-proclaimed 'elf':\"I am just a regular guy from Lithuania, a citizen, who once noticed that Russian propaganda is being spread in this country by huge numbers of groups on Facebook. Seeing this I thought that it cannot be a natural thing and started digging, and discovered many more groups.\"6. Cutaway mid of interview7. SOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Ricardas Savukynas, 43-year-old blogger and self-proclaimed 'elf': \"There are certain measures to fight it. If we say and spread true facts, that already helps counter propaganda. It is very important that as many people as possible understand what is organised brainwashing. Another measure is the fight against bots and those half-legal measures used by those who disseminate propaganda. It is reporting to Facebook fake accounts that spread fake news and also hunting down hate commentaries on the web where they call for action – like killing all Lithuanians to make space for Russians, for example.\"8. Various Vilnius city centreVilnius - 28 November 20169. Pan of Delfi office, a main news portal in the Baltics10. Close-up of Monika Garbaciauskaite, the editor-in-chief of Delfi11. SOUNDBITE (English) Monika Garbaciauskaite, Editor-in-Chief, Delfi:\"So we noticed this increase in the number of the comments and of strange trolling already before (the invasion of) Crimea, and I would say before the Sochi Olympics games.\"12. Computer screen showing comments and removed comments, UPSOUND (English) Monika Garbaciauskaite: \"So, in October we had in total about 600,000 comments and we removed about 100,000. So that makes more than 3,000 comments per day removed.\"Vilnius - 29 November 201613. Tilt down painting inside the Lithuanian Defence Ministry depicting a battle 14. Tomas Ceponis, an analyst at the Lithuanian military's strategic communications department15. SOUNDBITE (English) Tomas Ceponis, analyst for the Lithuanian military:\"We recognised, especially recently, that we have a pretty huge and long lasting disinformation campaign against our society. Each year we are trying to count how many different topics, how many different targets they are using in our country and it's really a very huge variety of targets.\"16. Cutaway hands17. SOUNDBITE (English) Tomas Ceponis, analyst for the Lithuanian military:\"Certainly, it's much easier to count tanks or to count planes but it's pretty difficult to count the impact. But certainly we can use some techniques like social questioning and we can observe how many visitors different social media accounts have and later on we can theoretically count how much impact they have on our society.\"18. Close-up candle in cafe with Laurynas Ragelskis, pro-Russian blogger, in the background19. Close-up Laurynas Ragelskis, 39-year-old blogger20. Various close-ups on Ragelskis' computer screen21. SOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Laurynas Ragelskis, pro-Russian blogger:\"Official channels have said many times that pro-Russian and anti-Western statements in Lithuania are supported by trolls, who are paid by the Russian embassy. But in reality, nobody has provided any proof or name, not a single fact, just rumours.\"22. Cutaway close up of Ragelskis23. SOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Laurynas Ragelskis, pro-Russian blogger:\"In fact, these people are no different from other Internet users; only they have broader and more socially-minded views than those focused on their personal interests - like posting online photos of kittens or flowers.\"24. Cutaway close ups of RagelskisSOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Laurynas Ragelskis, pro-Russian blogger:\"Putin is showing very clearly that he knows how to adapt to changing global circumstances and how his politics meet the new reality of the world instead of changing or breaking it, like do leaders in the West.\"25. Candle with Laurynas Ragelskis in the backgroundVisaginas - 27 November 201626. Various of people lighting candles in the Russian Orthodox Church in Visaginas,27. Wide of service28. Various exteriors of Russian Orthodox Church, worshippers29. SOUNDBITE (English) Roman Nutsubidze, 30-year-old driving instructor:\"If people do support this man (Putin) - and there is a very high level of support - he must have done something good. And I don't see what he has done bad. I don't actually see it.\"Vilnius - 30 November 201630. Various of Vilnius city centre, snow and trafficVilnius - 28 November 201631. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius32. Close-up of Lithuanian and EU flag33. SOUNDBITE (English) Linas Linkevicius, Lithuanian Foreign Minister:\"A lie is not an alternative point of view. One can say 'look it's freedom of speech; everyone can say whatever he wants.' Of course, I agree. But if it's a resourced propaganda machine brainwashing people, it's not just an alternative point of view. It's a weapon. It's a weapon and we should take into account that weapon.\"Vilnius - 30 November 2016++NIGHT SHOTS++34. 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