Authorities announce that they have seized about 1,000 accounts spreading Russian propaganda on X (formerly Twitter)
Russia, whose relations with Western countries have continued to deteriorate since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is known for its relentless manipulation of public opinion, including tricking celebrities such as Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson into
Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Leads Efforts Among Federal, International, and Private Sector Partners to Disrupt Covert Russian Government-Operated Social Media Bot Farm | United States Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners
US disrupts AI-powered bot farm pushing Russian propaganda on X
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-disrupts-ai-powered-bot-farm-pushing-russian-propaganda-on-x/
In a statement on July 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice said, 'Today, we are announcing the seizure of two domains and 968 social media accounts used by Russian actors to create an AI-enhanced bot farm to spread disinformation on social media in the United States and abroad.'
A 'bot farm' is software designed to mass-produce false identities on social media, often using AI to generate profile pictures, text, etc.
According to
'A,' who was deputy editor-in-chief of Russia's state-run news media RT (formerly Russia Today), led the development of 'Meliorator,' software capable of creating and operating bot farms, in response to the leadership's desire to develop alternatives to television news, RT's primary method of disseminating information.
Development was carried out by multiple people, including 'Individual B,' and around April 2022, the purchase of infrastructure to operate the bot farm began.
Furthermore, in 2023, a Federal Security Service (FSB) employee, “FSB Officer 1,” with the approval and financial support of the Kremlin, established a Private Intelligence Organization (PIO). The PIO’s members included “A” and other RT employees. The true purpose of this organization, officials noted, was to carry out the FSB and Russian government’s mission of “spreading disinformation through social media accounts created through bot farms.”
Below is an example of propaganda from a fake account created by a bot farm: The account, claiming to be an American voter, posted a video of President Putin saying that Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and other regions were 'gifts' from the Russian army that liberated them from Nazi rule during World War II.
Another account posted a video claiming that the number of foreign fighters accompanying the Ukrainian military was lower than publicly known, as well as a video of President Putin saying that the war in Ukraine was not about territorial disputes or geopolitical power dynamics, but about 'the principles that will underpin a new order.'
To prevent a repeat of this issue, the FBI and the Department of Defense's Cyber National Task Force (CNMF) jointly issued a cybersecurity advisory (PDF file) with Canadian and Dutch authorities aimed at identifying and preventing Russian government misuse of the technology, and X responded by voluntarily freezing the identified bot accounts.
'This action marks the first time we have disrupted a Russian-backed generative AI-powered bot farm that was used to spread AI-generated disinformation to undermine Ukrainian allies and influence public opinion in favor of the Russian government,' said FBI Director Christopher Wray. 'Working with our partners, the FBI will do everything in our power to disrupt this most dangerous adversary and their use of cutting-edge technology for their nefarious purposes.'
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in Web Service, Security, Posted by log1l_ks