It is long known that Russia has a large troll army (paid bloggers) that manipulates online content and works extensively to diffuse a positive picture of the government. According to The Guardian, hundreds of trolls spread a word in praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on depravity and injustice of the west, and most surprisingly, to promote the Russian-made YotaPhone.
The Guardian stated that it contacted two of the former employees of the troll enterprise, out of which one disclosed that they were employed unofficially and were paid cash in-hand to promote the YotaPhone. The international publication said that it located leaked set of documents that speak of an opaque company structuring the image of the smartphone. One of the documents recovered was “technical task sheets” that gave an angle to the hired writer so that they flash the scripted “conclusion” to the commenters.
It is also reported that the manufacturing company has no clue about the government’s strategic plan and the administration is doing it without informing the producer; however it works in their favour. Every thing is carried out behind proxy servers so that their original location remains concealed.
It should be noted that the Russian government has stakes in the smartphone company Yota, but it appears that the case is the other way round. Russian administration seems to be doing undue advertising of YotaPhone to establish itself in the international smartphone market.
If it was all about advertising the phone globally, then the trolls have done their job well. However, it doesn’t seem like the gadget needed such a huge strategy behind the curtain. YotaPhone is a one of a kind device that boasts two back to back displays and that too with remarkable display sizes of 4.3-inch. It has accumulated positive response from tech reviewers worldwide.
