Russian companies coordinated with the Institute for Internet Development to conduct a covert disinformation campaign across Latin America using AI chatbots to amplify false articles through local media contacts to spread anti-U.S. and pro-Russian propaganda.
The Russian government is financing an ongoing disinformation campaign across Latin America coordinated by three Russian organizations: The Social Design Agency (SDA), the Institute for Internet Development, and Structura National Technologies. The campaign targets 13 countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The operation involves creating content in Russia and sending it to cultivated journalists in Latin America for editing and publication in local media to appear organic. The Institute for Internet Development, led by former Kremlin official Aleksei Goreslavsky, planned to spend $32 million this year on information efforts surrounding the war in Ukraine. The campaign uses artificial intelligence chatbots to amplify articles on social media and aims to launder Russian propaganda through local media contacts writing in Spanish and Portuguese. Key actors include SDA director Ilya Gambashidze, project director Andrey Perla, Structura CEO Nikolay Tupikin, and pro-Kremlin journalist Oleg Yasinskiy. The operation primarily works through Spanish-language outlets Pressenza and El Ciudadano. One example cited was a false article in August 2023 claiming the West was looting religious relics from a Ukrainian monastery, which appeared in Spanish, French and English on Pressenza. The European Union imposed sanctions on SDA and Structura in July 2023 for their involvement in disinformation campaigns supporting Russia's war against Ukraine.
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.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
No population impact data reported.