Pro-Putin 'Troll Factory' in Russia Will Pay Labor Abuse Settlement to Former Employee

Lawyers for a Russian company that produces online pro-Putin propaganda made a rare appearance in a St. Petersburg courtroom yesterday.

Though they refused to speak to the press, representatives of the St. Petersburg-based Agency for Internet Research agreed to pay former employee Lyudmila Savchuk to settle charges of labor abuse.

Savchuk claims she was fired for criticizing what she called Russia's network of "troll factories," and has vowed to use her lawsuit to expose the Kremlin's internet propaganda machine.

"I am very pleased, they pretended they don't exist at all and now they have come out of the shadows for the first time," she said.

When she filed the lawsuit earlier this month, Savchuk told the Associated Press that the Agency for Internet Research "ought to be closed."

Related: European Union Prepares 'Myth-Busters' Team to Combat Russian Disinformation

According to a New York Times investigation, the Agency employees as many as 400 professional trolls to churn out pro-Putin comments, articles, and even fabricate online characters to boost the Russian government's profile.

For three months, Savchuk worked 12-hour shifts in a giant St. Petersburg office building as a member of the Agency's "special projects" department. She managed several online characters, including a fortuneteller named Cantadora who predicted political victories for Vladimir Putin on a fabricated Livejournal account.

The phenomenon of pro-Kremlin trolling has its roots in the 2011 anti-government protests that erupted after Russia's disputed parliamentary elections. After the protesters organized on social media, the government cracked down, forced bloggers to register with the state, and began to build its own online propaganda apparatus.

Related: Meet the Colonel in Charge of Countering Russian Propaganda in Lithuania

Trolling spread beyond Russia's borders during the conflict in Ukraine, as the Agency for Internet Research began to pay people like Savchuk to cheer pro-Russia separatists. The trolls also flood the internet with fake news accounts and erroneous information to dilute news stories that are critical of the Russian government.

Until now, Russian trolling outfits have tried to stay out of the public eye. Savchuk's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, told AFP that the appearance by the Agency's lawyers was "unexpected." He said that he suspected the Agency was trying to resolve the lawsuit quietly to avoid further scrutiny. "I suppose the defendant considers it a lesser evil to recognize the lawsuit and pay compensation," he told AFP.

Yekaterina Nazarova, the Agency's lawyer, told the Judge the agency would offer Savchuk 10,000 rubles to end the labor dispute.

Follow Avi Ascher-Shapiro on Twitter: @AASchapiro

Watch the VICE News documentary Silencing Dissent in Russia: Putin's Propaganda Machine

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