Pro-Russia Trolls Reportedly Targeting Trans-Themed Sim in Second Life; Matches Similar Pro-Russia Trolling in Minecraft & Roblox

Disturbing if inevitable story in the New York Times documents pro-Russian disinformation spreading across various metaverse platforms and MMOs:

Molfar’s researchers identified more than a dozen instances of pro-Kremlin propaganda in Minecraft, Roblox, the Russian versions of World of Tanks and World of Warships, Fly Corp, Armored Warfare and War Thunder. Almost all extolled the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, a theme Mr. Putin and his advisers have used to build support for today’s war. Some of it had explicit links to political parties or government agencies…

Jacob Davey, the head of research of far-right and hate movements at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London, said Minecraft and other games could be useful tools for those looking to influence vulnerable young people, especially if those people had already sorted themselves into private groups where they were eager to discuss fringe ideologies.

"Technoodle", a Second Life user who manages security for a trans-themed island in Linden Lab's virtual world, tells me of dealing with similar activity recently:

"People keep coming in, rezzing a prim that broadcasts support for Russia and then leave," as he puts it. "We have had to ban at least a dozen."

The entrance to the sim looks like the surface of Mars next to an active volcano, which might seem like a somewhat strange place to blare pro-Russia messages. But it might have to do with how the island is displayed on the Second Life map grid:

"We don't know if they are trying to mark us for something. Since our sim has a trans flag as map art, we think it could be transphobes or something."

These incidents happen a couple times a week, he tells me. So far, the sim itself has not been permanently damaged, so no official complaints to Second Life's owner have been filed. But Technoodle still hopes they look into this.

"Would be nice if some of the higher ups at Linden Lab would catch wind of it and maybe investigate it," as he puts it. "I have no idea if it happens on other sims because I personally stick to my home, my friends' place, or the sandbox."

I am reaching out to Linden Lab about this. It's not even clear as yet whether these trolling incidents are stemming from Russia itself, or just random noxiousness.

"They are in and out of the sim in seconds and leave prims linking to Russian or Ukraine groups," as Technoodle puts it to me. "It's almost like the two are fighting against each other."

amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "newwornot-20";
amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual";
amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart";
amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon";
amzn_assoc_region = "US";
amzn_assoc_design = "enhanced_links";
amzn_assoc_asins = "1394155816";
amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit";
amzn_assoc_linkid = "09778d9a32dae1475f81139abdba7c70";