US DOJ Disrupts Russian AI-Enhanced Bot Farm, Seizes 968 Accounts and Two Domains

Jul 9, 2024, 08:17 PM

The U.S. Justice Department announced on July 9, 2024, that it disrupted a Russian government-backed operation that used artificial intelligence to create fake social media profiles on X (formerly Twitter). The operation, aimed at spreading pro-Kremlin messages and disinformation, involved the seizure of two domain names and 968 social media accounts. The bot farm, linked to Russian state-sponsored media organization RT and the Federal Security Service (FSB), was designed to impersonate Americans and promote Russian government narratives. A fake article about Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife buying a $4.8 million Bugatti with US aid was among the disinformation spread by the bots. The effort to dismantle the operation was a collaborative effort involving federal, international, and private sector partners, including law enforcement agencies from Canada and the Netherlands.