The US Department of Justice reports that it has thwarted a Russian government-backed propaganda campaign that used AI to use a bot farm to spread disinformation.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismantled a Russian operation that used fake social media accounts enhanced by artificial intelligence to covertly spread pro-Kremlin messages in the United States and abroad, it said.
Tuesday’s news comes four months before the U.S. presidential election, which security experts say will be the target of hacking and covert influence attempts on social media by foreign adversaries. Senior U.S. officials have said publicly that they are monitoring plans to disrupt the vote.
The Justice Department has obtained court approval to seize two domain names and search nearly 1,000 social media accounts allegedly associated with the operation.
“With these actions, the Justice Department has disrupted a Russian government-backed, AI-powered propaganda campaign aimed at using a bot farm to spread disinformation in the United States and abroad,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
This is the first time the United States has publicly accused a foreign government of using generative AI as part of a foreign influence operation, according to Justice Department and FBI officials. U.S. officials have warned that adversaries could use the growing power of AI systems to step up their efforts to spread misinformation.
Kremlin-funded effort
Prosecutors say the alleged operation was created by a Russia-based private intelligence organization comprised of Russian intelligence officers and a senior official at the Moscow-based, government-funded Russia Today (RT) news agency. The operation was approved and funded by the Kremlin in early 2023, according to the Justice Department.
Spokespeople for the Russian Embassy in Washington and RT did not respond to requests for comment.
The private organization had designed a custom, AI-powered platform to create, control and manage hundreds of fake social media accounts, which were created to look like those of real Americans, according to court documents.
The social media platform X’s accounts have since been banned. They regularly posted pro-Kremlin messages, including videos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and criticized the Ukrainian government.
The United States cooperated with Dutch authorities on the investigation. The campaign was conducted from a server in the Netherlands, investigators said.
