The Justice Department announced today that it has disrupted a Russian government-backed social media bot farm that used artificial intelligence to spread disinformation in the United States and abroad. The bot farm created nearly 1,000 fictitious social media profiles, often appearing to belong to individuals in the U.S., to promote messages supporting Russian government objectives. The FBI and the Cyber National Mission Force, in partnership with Canadian and Dutch authorities, released an advisory about the technology behind the bot farm.
This will enable social media platforms and researchers to identify and prevent further use of the technology by the Russian government. X Corp. (formerly Twitter) also voluntarily suspended the identified bot accounts for terms of service violations.
Disrupting Russian disinformation bot farm
“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 our legal authorities to counter Russian aggression and protect the American people,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. According to court documents, the bot farm was developed by RT, a state-run Russian news organization, with the approval and financial support of the Kremlin.
An FSB officer led the creation of a private intelligence organization composed of RT employees to advance Russian government missions by spreading disinformation through the bot farm’s accounts. Examples of Russian government narratives posted using the bot farm include a purported U.S. constituent sharing a video of President Putin justifying Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and a supposed U.S. resident posting a video claiming that the number of foreign fighters with Ukrainian forces was significantly lower than public estimates. The bot farm relied on private email servers associated with two domain names seized by the FBI to register the fictitious social media accounts.
The Justice Department continues to work with its international partners to disrupt criminal cyber activity and mitigate foreign disinformation threats.
April Isaacs is a news contributor for DevX.com She is long-term, self-proclaimed nerd. She loves all things tech and computers and still has her first Dreamcast system. It is lovingly named Joni, after Joni Mitchell.
