From Mother Jones · Anna Merlan · · 1m 20s
Ukraine Drone Strike Misled About Bot Farms
Ukraine’s drone strike on Yandex data centers falsely claimed to silence Russian bots.
In brief
Ukraine’s drone strike on Yandex data centers falsely claimed to silence Russian bots. Ukraine’s drone strike on Yandex data centers did not stop Russian bot farms but caused temporary drops in bot activity. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
Zelenskyy claims drone strike reduced bot activity
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said strikes on Yandex data centers decreased bot activity online, reducing hate and division.
“When our strikes reached Yandex’s data centers, it suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social media platforms”
MAGA and AfD accounts reported less activity
Reports claimed MAGA, Reform UK, and AfD accounts saw reduced activity after the strike, with a 56 percent drop in AfD bot activity.
“So much talk about German patriotism…then the connection from Russia goes down”
Tech experts clarify bot confusion
Tech experts explained that the 'bots' taken offline were web crawlers, not online trolls, which are more resilient.
“It is used as shorthand for both web crawlers and online trolls. Web crawlers plummeting makes sense, but online trolls usually have more resilient infrastructure”
No drop in Russian troll activity
Antibot4Navalny found no dramatic drop in Kremlin-aligned human trolls targeting Russian users after the strike.
“We see no “dramatic drop” in traffic of Kremlin-aligned human trolls-for-hire targeting Russian domestic users”
Facebook activity unchanged
Valedmar Osted’s Facebook analysis showed AfD accounts increased by 8 percent and MAGA accounts by 10 percent after the strike.
“AfD after the strikes: −8% to +5%. MAGA: +4% to +10%”
Matroyshka network still active
Russian disinformation network Matroyshka remained active after the strike, despite claims of bot takedowns.
“Matroyshka is also the network that recently posted fake videos bearing Mother Jones’s name”
Public misperception of bot activity
A 2023 study found people overestimate bot prevalence and believe others are more vulnerable to bot influence than themselves.
“Participants tended to “overestimate the prevalence of bots and see others as more vulnerable to bot influence than themselves””
The bottom line
Ukraine’s drone strike on Yandex data centers did not stop Russian bot farms but caused temporary drops in bot activity.
