The U.S. Justice Department announced today a successful operation to dismantle a covert social media bot farm operated by the Russian government. The bot farm, which utilized AI-enhanced technology, was designed to spread disinformation across social media platforms in the United States and abroad.
“With these actions, the Justice Department has disrupted a Russian-government backed, AI-enabled propaganda campaign to use a bot farm to spread disinformation in the United States and abroad,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “As the Russian government continues to wage its brutal war in Ukraine and threatens democracies around the world, the Justice Department will continue to deploy all of our legal authorities to counter Russian aggression and protect the American people.”
In collaboration with federal, international, and private sector partners, the Justice Department seized two domain names and executed a search of 968 social media accounts associated with the bot farm.
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The operation is a major blow to Russian efforts to manipulate public opinion and interfere in democratic processes through covert online propaganda campaigns.
The bot farm used sophisticated AI algorithms to create and amplify fake social media accounts, which were then used to disseminate misleading narratives and sow discord on various social media platforms. The disinformation campaigns targeted a wide range of issues, including elections, public health, and social justice movements.
“Today’s actions represent a first in disrupting a Russian-sponsored Generative AI-enhanced social media bot farm,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Russia intended to use this bot farm to disseminate AI-generated foreign disinformation, scaling their work with the assistance of AI to undermine our partners in Ukraine and influence geopolitical narratives favorable to the Russian government. The FBI is committed to working with our partners and deploying joint, sequenced operations to strategically disrupt our most dangerous adversaries and their use of cutting-edge technology for nefarious purposes.”
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The Justice Department has shared information about the bot farm’s tactics and techniques with social media platforms and researchers to help them identify and prevent similar campaigns in the future. X Corp. (formerly Twitter) has voluntarily suspended the remaining bot accounts identified in the court documents for violating its terms of service.
The takedown of the Russian bot farm serves as a warning to other malicious actors who seek to exploit social media for their nefarious purposes. The Justice Department remains committed to protecting the integrity of online discourse and safeguarding democratic institutions from foreign interference.
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