Activity attributed to Russian internet trolls dropped significantly after some workers at the Russian Embassy in Prague were deported, according to a report by news server Seznamzpravy.cz. The expulsion of 18 people Czech authorities described as officers of the Russian secret services occurred in April, after Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Interior Minister Jan Hamáček said there was a reasonable suspicion that Russian agents were involved in fatal explosions at the ammunition depot in Vrbětice in 2014. The expulsions led to reciprocation from the Russian side, which expelled Czech embassy staff from Moscow. Experts on disinformation and the Security Information Service (BIS) both said that activity of Russian trolls on the Czech Internet decreased significantly once the expulsions took place. "We have similar knowledge; we know about the decline. At the moment, we are analyzing the exact reasons," BIS spokesman Ladislav Šticha told Seznamzpravy. (https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/seznamzpravy-russian-embassy-housed-a-troll-farm-activity-slowed-after-expulsions) Not only have the number of misinformation posts dropped, but the amount of "likes," up votes, and similar responses has also dropped. These responses help to push the original misinformation post to the top of the list of comments.
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