Putin's Trolls

Jessikka Aro is an award-winning investigative reporter with the Finnish Broadcasting Company, specializing in Russia, information warfare, security and extremism. In 2014, she started to investigate the influence of pro-Russian social media trolls’ in Finland and beyond. Immediately after that, she herself became a target of an ongoing, aggressive and criminal fake news campaign by pro-Kremlin propagandists. In 2016, Aro was awarded the respected Bonnier Journalism Prize for her Russian troll investigations, which were published in Finnish, English and Russian. The results of her ground-breaking investigations have been quoted in international media and research, and she continues to educate the public of the Russian influence and meddling in Western societies. Earlier in her career, Aro lived, studied and worked as a journalist in Russia. In 2019, she published, Putin’s Trolls, a best-selling investigative book about the Kremlin’s information warfare. Originally published in Finnish, the book has been translated into several languages. That same year, the US State Department awarded her the International Women of Courage Award, but the award was mysteriously rescinded by the Trump administration allegedly due to her social media criticism of President Trump. Jessikka lives in Helsinki, Finland.