paid trolls

Paid trolls are people employed to post inflammatory, misleading, or propagandistic content online while posing as ordinary users.

Unlike regular trolls who provoke for personal amusement, paid trolls work systematically to shape public opinion, sow discord, or defend particular interests—often political or corporate.

The term gained prominence with revelations about state-sponsored disinformation campaigns: The investigation traced the fake accounts back to paid trolls in St. Petersburg.

Also called troll farms when referring to the operations that employ them.