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AK Trolls (Turkish: AK Trol, AK Troller) are anonymous political commentators and trolls on the internet, taking part in Internet manipulation in favor of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. Most are aged between 20 and 25. The youth wing of the Justice and Development Party (AK Gençlik) is presumed responsible for heading the web brigade,[1] while TÜGVA (Turkey Youth Foundation) members are also recruited. In 2020, Twitter Safety suspended and archived 7,340 accounts, including fake and compromised accounts tied to the group which pushed pro-AKP narratives, notably advocating for domestic support for the Turkish intervention in Syria as well as narratives critical of opposition parties CHP, the Good Party and HDP. [2]
AK Trolls came to existence in 2013[3] after the Gezi Park protests where protesters used social media to organize and publicize protests against the government and the authoritarian tendencies of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. As a reaction, the AKP recruited 6,000 people to a new social media team, known as the New Turkey Digital Office, to promote state propaganda and orchestrate campaigns against individuals identified as being opponents of AKP.[4] Internet bots are extensively used by government as well to assist paid individuals.[5] AK Trolls mainly target anyone who opposes the policies of incumbent President Erdoğan, which can range from Kurdish nationaliststoKemalists.[6]
AK Trolls favored a 'Yes' vote for the constitutional changes sought by Erdoğan.[7]
A Twitter safety statement released in December 2020 stated that "based on our analysis of the network's technical indicators and account behaviors, the collection of fake and compromised accounts was being used to amplify political narratives favorable to the AK Parti" and that 7,340 accounts linked to the group had been archived.[8]
According to reports by the Stanford Internet Observatory, the accounts:
AK Trolls use social media networks (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Ekşi Sözlük)[9] in an organized way to promote the AKP,[10] discredit opposition, and attack individuals by spreading false information about them on the Internet. MPs from CHP and HDP asked to start an investigation on AK Trolls as the group is extensively employed to silence individuals through character assassination, insults, and threats.[11][4] AK Trolls also use images to incite emotional responses from the target population.
AK Trolls use fake Twitter trends as a means to launch campaigns against opposition. A study by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) found that at least 47% of Twitter trends in Turkey were fake, created automatically using fake and compromised accounts. It is reported that in 2019, there were 6500 fake trends. Of those, 802 were about politics and 472 were pro-AKP, including campaigns against Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu such as #ÇünküÇaldılar, which claimed that he stole the votes.[12]
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