Security News > 2024 > July > U.S. Seizes Domains Used by AI-Powered Russian Bot Farm for Disinformation

The U.S. Department of Justice said it seized two internet domains and searched nearly 1,000 social media accounts that Russian threat actors allegedly used to covertly spread pro-Kremlin disinformation in the country and abroad on a large scale.

"The social media bot farm used elements of AI to create fictitious social media profiles - often purporting to belong to individuals in the United States - which the operators then used to promote messages in support of Russian government objectives," the DoJ said.

The bot network, comprising 968 accounts on X, is said to be part of an elaborate scheme hatched by an employee of Russian state-owned media outlet RT, sponsored by the Kremlin, and aided by an officer of Russia's Federal Security Service, who created and led an unnamed private intelligence organization.

The developmental efforts for the bot farm began in April 2022 when the individuals procured online infrastructure while anonymizing their identities and locations.

The information operation - which targeted the U.S., Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, and Israel - was pulled off using an AI-powered software package dubbed Meliorator that facilitated the "En masse" creation and operation of said social media bot farm.

Each of these accounts had a distinct identity or "Soul" based on one of the three bot archetypes: Those that propagate political ideologies favorable to the Russian government, like already shared messaging by other bots, and perpetuate disinformation shared by both bot and non-bot accounts.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2024/07/us-seizes-domains-used-by-ai-powered.html