\u201cThis has nothing to do with freedom of speech,\u201d says Aro. \u201cThis is not normal political discussion. Saying, \u2018Jessikka is a crack whore who needs to be killed\u2019 is a crime in many different countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Confident, passionate and highly articulate, Aro speaks fluent English and Russian. She has tried reporting her abusers to Facebook and YouTube, but mostly receives an automated reply saying that they haven\u2019t violated community standards. The reality of moderating, she argues, can be too complex for an algorithm, and requires human brains. \u201cIn fact, some of this content violates both their own community standards and Finnish legislation. By not removing it, they are enabling state-sponsored Russian troll operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
She accuses the companies of putting profit before anything else. Facebook has even profited from the trolls, she claims, because they pay for visibility and sponsored posts to attack her.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir moderation and security guarantee goes against their business model, basically. But if they\u2019re going to do business in our countries, if they\u2019re going to take our data and use it to make money, then they should also take some responsibility. It\u2019s wrong, and illegal, to send death threats to anyone. They should have put an end to this years ago, but it\u2019s still going on. They don\u2019t seem interested in investigating it voluntarily, unless the US Senate or special counsel Robert Mueller demands that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> (subscription).<\/p>\n After exposing a Russian \u2018troll factory\u2019, Jessikka Aro was so vilified that she fled Finland in fear of her life. Yet she refuses to stop reporting https:\/\/t.co\/rOKH4KMxtr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Times of London (@thetimes) May 29, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n