Kit Klarenberg
Since the conflict in Ukraine began, numerous commentators have drawn attention to the blatant weaponization of social media in service of the proxy war.
Legions of users on Facebook, Twitter, and other major platforms, many anonymous and recently registered, have relentlessly propounded pro-intervention, pro-Ukraine propaganda, viciously attacking all those deviating even slightly from established Western narratives. It has created an unprecedented situation, which writer Caitlin Johnstone calls “the most aggressively trolled war of all time.”
Of course, this hostile informational milieu didn’t abruptly emerge when Russia intervened in Ukraine on February 24th. For many years, public spaces online have been subject to an ever-intensifying blitzkrieg both by dedicated state-run bot and troll networks, and apparently grassroots initiatives. In respect of the latter, the one that started it all was the Lithuanian Elves, back in 2015.
An ostensibly informal collective of concerned citizens banding together to rebut Russian “fake news”, its activists have been praised effusively in the mainstream for their troll-busting prowess, and repeatedly held up as a paragon Western states must follow in order to effectively battle purported “disinformation”.
Unsurprisingly though, none of the countless glowing media profiles of the movement published to date have recognized that the movement has all along benefited from the sponsorship and promotion of British intelligence.
Covert operatives in London immediaely seized upon the Elves concept, then exported its model globally, in the process constructing a clandestine network of operatives to sway debate, influence policy, and distort perceptions the world over.
‘21st century resistance fighters’
References to this spectral background are, perhaps predictably, absent from an official biography of the Elves, provided in a chapter contributed to an academic handbook on “Disinformation and Fake News” by Giedrius Sakalauskas, one of the movement’s founders. Nonetheless, revealing – if romantic – insight into the group’s modus operandi is forthcoming.
There are; “debunkers” seeking to identify and expose “hostile propaganda”; “troll killers” mass reporting perceived malign actors and bot accounts to social media platforms, so they’re deplatformed; “motivators” spreading “positive news” about Lithuania, the EU and NATO “in order to make people proud of their own country”; and operatives “fighting trolls and their information using humor, irony, and sarcasm as a weapon.”
Oddly, Sakalauskas contradicts himself on the number of people involved, first stating “it is not easy to calculate how many Elves we have today, as there are different tribes,” but later on asserting Lithuania’s Elf chapter alone comprises “over 4,000 activists who participate as needed.”
They are mobilized via groups on social media and chat platforms, some of which are labeled “secret”. Elves “do not know each other’s real names or meet up in person; more often than not, they remain anonymous, in order to avoid being identified by the other side. But when we have a target, we are together [emphasis added].”
Sakalauskas goes on to describe a series of orchestrated actions by the Elves, in the process admitting their activities are anything but reactive – indeed, they avowedly subscribe to the philosophy that “the best defense is offence.”
For example, a number of Elves mounted a campaign against Russian state-owned outlet Sputnik, relentlessly spamming its Facebook page with negative comments and memes, and decreasing its ‘rating’ from 4.3 to 2.6 out of five in just six days.
Then, in the lead up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Elves targeted Adidas after the international sportswear giant produced a range of t-shirts bearing the Soviet hammer and sickle, prompting a deluge of negative media coverage the world over. In just two days, the company bowed to the harassment and withdrew offending products from sale. Markedly, Sakalauskas states that a “group of likeminded Ukrainian activists joined in on the action.”
The Elves repeated the effort later that year, this time targeting Walmart for its own assortment of Communist-themed garments, and once again emerging victorious in short order. A core component of both campaigns was sarcastically suggesting the target companies create dedicated lines of totalitarian-themed attire – a meme bearing the inscription “Walmart, why not swastika?” was widely circulated, as were corresponding hashtags on Twitter.