From Straight Arrow · · 2m
Bot test: Did a strike on a Russian data center throttle internet activity this weekend?
Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers sparked claims of reduced social media bots but experts say the evidence is misleading.
In brief
Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers sparked claims of reduced social media bots but experts say the evidence is misleading. Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers did not significantly reduce social media bot activity as claimed by some users. Originally reported by Straight Arrow.
Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said strikes on Yandex data centers made social media platforms easier to use this week.
“When our strikes reached Yandex’s data centers, it suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social media platforms”
Viral Cloudflare chart shows bot traffic drop
A Cloudflare chart appeared to show a sharp decline in Yandex bot traffic after the data center strikes.
“The red area in the chart above shows the period of time after the data centers were hit, with a clear decline in activity from their servers”
Threads users test bot activity
Threads users posted controversial 'bot tests' to see if replies would flood, but engagement was slower than usual.
“Bot test: SHE-HULK ATTORNEY AT LAW WAS VERY GOOD AND FUNNY”
X posts receive less engagement
Some X users reported Elon Musk’s posts received fewer comments than usual after the strikes.
“Elon Musk’s posts on X received less positive engagement and fewer comments than usual”
Experts clarify bot traffic types
Experts say the drop in Yandex traffic is likely search engine crawlers, not political or disinformation bots.
“A great deal of the bot traffic we know to have been impacted is web crawlers”
Cloudflare traffic analysis
Cloudflare shows 98.7% of Google requests are bots, similar to Yandex’s search engine traffic patterns.
“A comparable Cloudflare traffic analysis of Google shows that 98.7% of its requests seem to be bots”
Valent identifies malicious bots
Valent checks posting patterns, breaks, and reposting to identify malicious bot networks.
“Valent checks posting patterns, whether the bot appears to take breaks or sleep at regular, human-like intervals and how frequently an account posts”
No drop in far-right Facebook activity
A Danish consultant found no decrease in engagement on far-right Facebook pages after the strikes.
“An analysis of over 200 far-right and right wing Facebook pages did not show a decrease in engagement or commenting”
Russian bots use global services
Experts say Russian bot networks likely use international data services, not Yandex, for their operations.
“There is every reason to believe that Russian propaganda efforts, certainly those targeting the West, would use global systems, and not Yandex”
Historical bot network example
Two years ago, strikes on Iranian internet infrastructure silenced a Scottish independence bot network on X.
“The researchers estimated that that network accounted for at least 4% of discourse on X surrounding Scottish independence in early 2024”
Polish scientist spreads misinformation
A Polish political scientist deleted a viral post after realizing it was AI-generated and spread misinformation.
“He deleted the post on Tuesday, and apologized on X for spreading misinformation; it turned out the original graph he shared had been AI-generated”
Thomas Theorem effect
Believing fewer bots online may temporarily increase human engagement and reduce fake posts.
“It is also conceivable that, because we believe it to be true, human engagement has risen and drowned out the bots temporarily”
The big picture
Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers did not significantly reduce social media bot activity as claimed by some users.
