AI-generated videos were used in a Russian-backed disinformation campaign to falsely promote military leader Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso, spreading misleading content about development projects and political achievements across West African social media.
A coordinated disinformation campaign has been spreading across West Africa using AI-generated videos to promote Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in Burkina Faso in 2022. The campaign uses cheap-looking, cartoonish AI-generated videos that falsely attribute progress and development to Traoré's leadership. Specific examples include a video showing a housing development in Algeria being presented as construction in Burkina Faso, and another showing Traoré at a cement plant inauguration with false claims about price reductions. The campaign is controlled by third parties and linked to Russia's 'African Initiative' news agency, which spreads content through social media accounts, websites like afrinz.ru, VKontakte, and Telegram channels. The disinformation targets the 300 million Africans who have joined social media in recent years and 600 million internet users on the continent. The campaign has spread beyond Burkina Faso to countries like Nigeria, where experts warn it poses risks to national security and democratic stability by normalizing military intervention as a political solution.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed