Troll Tactics: Sowing Discord in Finland’s Russian-Language Facebook Groups

This article examines a 2024 trolling campaign targeting a Russian-speaking Facebook group in Finland, in the context of Russian information warfare against the EU. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, it explores how pro-Kremlin trolls localized their messaging to exploit vulnerabilities of Russian-speakers in Finland. Two strategies – “fat” and “subtle” trolling – provoked emotional responses and led users to reproduce propaganda narratives, amplifying them and pre-existing tensions. The sentiment that the Russian-speaking audience “had no home” in Finland was a sensitive area. The article highlights the audience’s role in negotiating the meanings of troll messages. The trolls drew on local media content and sociocultural tensions. While some users succumbed to provocation, others resisted, restoring group cohesion. The article underlines the importance of micro-level analysis of audience responses to understand their vulnerabilities and recommends further research in this area. To counter the threat of polarization by information warfare, it also recommends recognizing the “pain points” of target audiences and including them in public discourse as members of multicultural societies that accept difference rather than marginalize it.