Russian bot farms are still trolling, even after Ukraine’s drone strikes on Yandex
Days after Ukrainian military drones took down several Russian data centers, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the campaign had hurt Russia's disinformation efforts. "It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms," Zelenskyy said Monday. "There was less hate, less division, and fewer provocations." Zelenskyy isn't the first to assert that the drone operation, which targeted data…
Key points
- Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centers did not reduce Russian bot farm activity, according to the antibot4navalny monitoring account.
- Danish analyst Valdemar Osted said interactions on MAGA and AfD accounts have increased since the strikes.
- Charts appearing to show a decline in bot activity were reportedly AI-generated.
Ukrainian military drone strikes took down several Russian data centers belonging to the technology company Yandex. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the campaign had hurt Russia's disinformation efforts, claiming it "suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms," with less hate, division and provocation.
Some social media users said they noticed less traffic on posts by MAGA-affiliated accounts and accounts linked to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, and some reported a steep drop in spam calls and messages. According to the article, those people are wrong.
What the strikes actually hit
The drone strikes appear to have affected Yandex's web crawlers rather than any disinformation or political operations. The account antibot4navalny, which tracks state-sponsored troll farms, reported that bot traffic is steady as ever.
It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Disinformation continued after strikes
On Monday, the same day Zelenskyy said disinformation had died down, antibot4navalny reported that several Kremlin-aligned accounts posted videos falsely claiming experts are demanding the European Union lift sanctions on Russia. Danish analyst Valedmar Osted said interactions on MAGA and AfD accounts have actually increased since the strikes, and the charts purportedly showing a decline in bot activity appear to be AI-generated.
The article states that claims the drone strikes hindered Russian disinformation campaigns appear to be a form of disinformation itself.
