Russia deployed AI-powered disinformation campaigns across social media platforms to spread propaganda about the Ukraine war, using bots, deepfakes, and automated content generation to influence public opinion and undermine Western support for Ukraine.
Multiple reports document Russia's extensive use of AI technologies to conduct disinformation campaigns related to the war in Ukraine. Russian state agencies deployed sophisticated networks of AI-powered bots on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok to spread pro-Russian narratives and anti-Western propaganda. Researchers identified over 870 bot accounts with perfect bot scores on Twitter that were liking and amplifying Russian government content, with thousands more accounts scoring 0.8 or higher on bot detection algorithms. The campaigns included AI-generated deepfakes of political leaders, automated content creation using natural language processing, and coordinated inauthentic behavior across multiple platforms. Russia paid journalists and influencers in countries like Bulgaria 2,000 euros monthly to post pro-Russian content. The disinformation focused on three main narratives: portraying arms deliveries to Ukraine as harmful, claiming Ukraine mistreats ethnic minorities, and arguing that EU sanctions damage local economies. Social media platforms removed tens of thousands of accounts, with Twitter reporting the removal of over 75,000 suspected fake accounts since the war began. The campaigns reached millions of users globally and successfully got pro-Russian hashtags trending on major platforms.
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