FBI, cyber-cops zap ~1K Russian AI disinfo Twitter bots

The FBI and cybersecurity agencies in Canada and the Netherlands say they have taken down an almost 1,000-strong Twitter bot farm set up by Russian state-run RT News that used generative AI to spread disinformation to Americans and others. The international crime busters seized two web domains and 968 X accounts that were …

[Sora2566]

And so the game of whack-a-mole continues...

[Anonymous Coward]

With seemingly little input from the social media firms themselves?

[MajDom]

Musk counts on those bots. And I suspect has quite a few of his own. As in, almost all of his lickspittle followers.

[Anonymous Coward]

so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen

Goodbye jelliedeel

[DS999]

So much for Musk

Promising to care of all the bots on Twitter then!

[lglethal]

Re: So much for Musk

He owns Twitter now. It's in his interest to have as many Bots as possible, so he can claim AMAZING, SUPERLATIVE, GALACTIC numbers of users... Even if half of them or more are bots. It's still numbers going up on a spreadsheet. It's all good for the Ol' Musky...

[Anonymous Coward]

It’s all about the bots

They still bring in the cash

[Anonymous Coward]

FBI, look here

Here is a list of YouTube propaganda channels with millions of views, typically as shorts:

1. Scroll down with unrelated entertainment content mixed with political, or sort by popular:

https://www.youtube.com/@VS59RUS/shorts

2. Clear propaganda, just take a note of the account countries:

https://www.youtube.com/@up78Russia/shorts

https://www.youtube.com/@simple_putin/shorts

https://www.youtube.com/@RohanSainiOfficial/shorts

3. Suspicios for propaganda:

https://www.youtube.com/@DailyDoseOfMasculinity/shorts

https://www.youtube.com/@The.Trumpest/shorts

https://www.youtube.com/@SNAPNEWS.24/shorts

4. Another enterntainment channel with injected political content (make sure to sort by most popular to see):

https://www.youtube.com/@Mangolhasa/shorts

5. Good channel, but there are many short comments getting statistically unnatural number of likes to promote certain agenda through the comments section:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vrnygjSL9M

[martinusher]

Everywhere you look.....

I actually quite like RT because its what a web site could be like if it wasn't infested with popups, video advertisements and all the other manifestations of modern webology (and its probably light on the cookies since it doesn't take ages to load a simple page). The downside is, of course, that it is what it says it is on the tin so if you're particular bent isn't upbeat articles about Russia (and downbeat about other places) then its "kinda boring". The articles do have comment threads but if you attach any significance to them ...... well, what can I say?

What I don't understand is why governments -- including my own (US) -- pay people to read this material, much less scour the comment threads to detect botness (hardly challenging) -- or people who act like bots. They then compile some kind of report with is then published in our media as some kind of proof of our how four legs is vastly superior to their two legs. The fact is, we're swimming in propaganda. It constantly blares at us at a level which someone like Orwell could only conceive of in their worst nightmare. Information is selected, processed, shaded, squeezed and generally manipulated to form public opinion and when the public start to notice and collectively call "BS" we're told that we're merely being deluded by some shadowy "Them" type outfit. Talk about gaslighting.....

[Tron]

Wasting effort on the wrong targets.

Americans generate more 'misinformation' about US politics than Russia ever could. You can't stop idiots being gullible.

Concentrate instead on going after the ransomware guys. Properly. Treating them as terrorists.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wasting effort on the wrong targets.

Exactly.

Case in point, the MAGA idiocracy.