Twitter patriots and keyboard warriors. “I am proud that I am Azerbaijani” reads this image on a user’s profile, featuring presidents Heydar and Ilham Aliyev. As a critic of Azerbaijan’s authorities and of president Ilham Aliyev, I’ve been called many things; a slut, a dog, a pig – you name it. These insults involved my ill mother and deceased father. She was a whore; he was a traitor who slept with an Armenian slut. I have been publicly shamed for writing columns for Agos, a Turkish-Armenian weekly, while living in Istanbul.
Among all the automated accounts who spread this abuse, I have managed to identify a group of regular users. They’re real people, who often retweet their gang leader (though the more creative ones go alone). These men and women, follow me everywhere I go online. They comment under my stories, blog posts, and of course, on Twitter. Some I have blocked, some I have muted, but mostly I have learned to ignore them.
One for the resume
Azerbaijan’s pro-government trolls have picked up their pace over the past few years. Freedom House’s recent report on internet freedom demoted Azerbaijan to 56th place, citing the disrupting nature of pro-government trolling attacks on freedom of expression, among many other concerns.
