"Troll networks are controlled from the presidential administration" - Bakhtiyar Hajiyev

Baku/16.04.21/Turan: "By the instructions from the Presidential Administration, trolls are issued certain theses from the AZERTAC agency and the leaders of the New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), so that they write comments praising the authorities, condemning the opposition, journalists and other critics of the authorities, said the public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev to the "Difficult Question" program of the Turan agency, speaking about the network of trolls in Azerbaijan.

He commented on an article published on April 13 in the British newspaper The Guardian under the headline “Facebook is not interested in countries like us: Azerbaijan is coming back a few months after the troll network was banned.” It said that six months after the introduction of Facebook bans on a network of trolls in Azerbaijan, a social media campaign against independent news agencies, opposition politicians have resumed with the support of the state.

In October 2020, Facebook announced that it had removed 8,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages associated with YAP.

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev noted that they have long known about the activities of the troll network in Azerbaijan.

“We knew that there is a network of trolls in many state structures, including the New Azerbaijan Party, at state enterprises, youth centers and other places. These trolls, under the leadership of the presidential administration, are given certain theses from AZERTAC and YAP leaders to write comments there praising the authorities, condemning the opposition, public figures and journalists. They believe that in this way they can influence public opinion.

In the past, according to available information, a network of trolls headed by the head of the socio-political department of the Presidential Administration, Ali Hasanov. “We thought that after Ali Hasanov was removed from office, we would never see such a primitive and unprofessional network of trolls. However, this network continues its primitive and unprofessional behavior,” continued Hajiyev.

While discussing this topic the program "Difficult Question" encountered significant difficulties during the broadcast. First, it was not possible to connect a program that broadcasts online. For this reason, the program, which was supposed to go on the air at 15:00, was broadcast 35 minutes later. It became possible to connect to the program using various alternative means. During the live broadcast, the voice of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, speaking as a guest, was subjected to technical failures several times, due to which it was impossible to understand what he was saying. Several times Bakhtiyar Hajiyev reconnected to the program, but each time after 3-4 minutes, his voice sounded the same again. Despite all this, the transfer took place.

After the broadcast, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev said that during the week he performed at various online events in his car and did not experience any problems. However, the appearance of such problems during the broadcast surprised Bakhtiyar Hajiyev as well.

Apparently, someone is not interested in covering topics such as the troll network. Moderator Kamran Mahmudov said that he would continue this topic. You can see the full video to see what happened on the air. — 04D06-