Feds launch crackdown on Russian social media bots

(CN) — The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it has taken steps to disrupt a “covert Russian government-operated social media bot farm,” in which Russian actors used artificial intelligence to create social media accounts in order to spread propaganda.

According to a Justice Department affidavit, individuals who are believed to be based in Russia purchased two domain names to create private email addresses, which were then used to register at least 968 social media accounts for the benefit of the Federal Security Service — Russia’s main security agency and the successor agency to the KGB.

“Because these actors have transferred funds from or through a place outside the United States to a place within the United States, with the intent to promote a specified unlawful activity, there is probable cause to believe that they have violated U.S. money laundering laws,” an FBI whose name is redacted wrote in the affidavit, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

X, the company formerly known as Twitter, suspended the bot accounts for violating its terms of service.

“Today’s actions represent a first in disrupting a Russian-sponsored generative AI-enhanced social media bot farm,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a written statement. “Russia intended to use this bot farm to disseminate AI-generated foreign disinformation, scaling their work with the assistance of AI to undermine our partners in Ukraine and influence geopolitical narratives favorable to the Russian government."

The bot farm operation was, according to the affidavit, created by a Russian FSB officer who was also the deputy editor-in-chief of Russia Today, a state-run news organization based in Moscow, widely seen as a propaganda arm of the country. The bot farm operation was approved and funded by the Presidential Administration, commonly referred to as the Kremlin. The operation had a number of goals, including to “sow discord in the United States by spreading misinformation.” Other posts attempted to justify Russia’s invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine.

For example, an account going by the name “Ricardo Abbot” posted a video of President Vladimir Putin “discussing his belief that certain geographic areas in Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania were liberated by the Soviet Union from Nazi control during World War II and were therefore ‘gifts’ to those countries from Russia.” Another account, going by the name “Sue Williamson,” posted a video of Putin claiming that the war in Ukraine is not a conflict over territory, but a fight over the “principles on which the New World Order will be based.”

Russian social media bot farms have been around for years, and were used to spread disinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. According to a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory put out Tuesday, bot farms have grown more sophisticated, using artificial intelligence to create “authentic appearing social media personas en masse.”

Using a software called Meliorator, affiliates of Russia Today have “disseminated disinformation to and about a number of countries, including the United States, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, and Israel,” according to the advisory. The software is capable of creating bots with different “archetypes” that all work together as a sort of team to avoid detection. The accounts posting propaganda or disinformation “boasted more than 100,000 followers,” most of whom were bots designed to follow them. The accounts all had their own AI-generated photos, biographies and consistent posting habits and ideologies.

“Much like authentic accounts, these bots follow genuine accounts reflective of their political leanings and interests listed in their biography,” according to the advisory.

The Justice Department’s investigation into the Russian social media bots is ongoing.

“With these actions, the Justice Department has disrupted a Russian-government backed, AI-enabled propaganda campaign to use a bot farm to spread disinformation in the United States and abroad,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a written statement. “As the Russian government continues to wage its brutal war in Ukraine and threatens democracies around the world, the Justice Department will continue to deploy all of our legal authorities to counter Russian aggression and protect the American people.”

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