The U.S. Department of Justice disrupted a Russian 'bot farm' that allegedly impersonated Americans to spread disinformation efforts through AI-powered fake social media accounts in support of Russia's war in Ukraine and other pro-Kremlin propaganda, the Justice Department announced.
Russia's Social Media 'Bot Farm'
Russia aimed to employ a bot farm to spread AI-generated foreign disinformation, utilizing A.I. to expand their efforts in undermining Ukraine and shaping geopolitical narratives beneficial to the Russian government, says FBI Director Christopher Wray.
According to court documents, a bot farm is an advanced software system designed to create fake identities on social media platforms, equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities, including features for generating images or text.
The operation was orchestrated by a deputy editor at R.T., formerly known as Russia Today, which the Kremlin owns. R.T. operates television channels in English and various other languages but appears more popular on social media compared to traditional broadcasting platforms.
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Over the years, R.T. has promoted the Russian government's agenda to global audiences, including in the U.S. However, its influence has diminished since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, leading to actions like the European Union's ban on Russian state media and certain tech companies limiting access, such as TikTok, Facebook, and Google. According to the DOJ, R.T. has been actively seeking alternative distribution channels, and the bot farm was a part of those efforts.
R.T.'s press office asserted that "Farming is Russians' beloved pastime," NPR News reported.
Justice Department's Effort to Disrupt Russian Conspiracy
The DOJ says nearly a thousand fake profiles on X, previously known as Twitter, were linked to the Russian campaign. Among them was a user who purported to live in Minneapolis and shared videos of Russian President Vladimir Putin justifying Russian actions in Ukraine, asserting that parts of Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania were "gifts" from Russian forces following World War II.
While X suspended the accounts due to violations of its terms of service, the extent of the fake accounts' followers and interaction with their posts remains unclear, and X did not respond to requests for comment.
The Justice Department also seized two websites used to distribute emails linked to the bot accounts and instructed X to provide information regarding 968 accounts identified as bots by investigators.
The use of U.S.-based domain names for registering the bots constitutes a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. At the same time, the payments associated with this infrastructure are alleged to violate federal money laundering laws.
The Justice Department said that its investigation is ongoing, with no criminal charges being disclosed publicly as of the moment.
According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, today's actions mark a significant step in disrupting a Russian-sponsored generative AI-enhanced social media bot farm.
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