{
	"id": "6828c5b0-b496-4738-a2ad-618f1c0dee22",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:09:38.230749Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:20:51.649396Z",
	"deleted_at": null,
	"sha1_hash": "5597e08a06eb258b8929e9d631575cea4df9000b",
	"title": "Justice Department Leads Efforts Among Federal, International, and Private Sector Partners to Disrupt Covert Russian Government-Operated Social Media Bot Farm",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
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	"plain_text": "Justice Department Leads Efforts Among Federal, International,\r\nand Private Sector Partners to Disrupt Covert Russian\r\nGovernment-Operated Social Media Bot Farm\r\nPublished: 2024-07-09 · Archived: 2026-04-05 21:05:47 UTC\r\nNote: View the affidavit for search of 968 X accounts here and affidavit for domains seizure here.\r\nThe Justice Department today announced the seizure of two domain names and the search of 968 social media\r\naccounts used by Russian actors to create an AI-enhanced social media bot farm that spread disinformation in the\r\nUnited States and abroad. The social media bot farm used elements of AI to create fictitious social media profiles\r\n— often purporting to belong to individuals in the United States — which the operators then used to promote\r\nmessages in support of Russian government objectives, according to affidavits unsealed today.\r\nIn conjunction with the domain seizures and search warrant announced today, the FBI and the Cyber National\r\nMission Force (CNMF), in partnership with Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the Netherlands General\r\nIntelligence and Security Service (AIVD), Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), and\r\nNetherlands Police released a joint cybersecurity advisory detailing the technology behind the social media bot\r\nfarm, including details regarding how the bot farm’s creators leveraged their bespoke AI system in furtherance of\r\nthe scheme. The advisory will allow social media platforms and researchers to identify and prevent the Russian\r\ngovernment’s further use of the technology. In addition, X Corp. (formerly, Twitter) voluntarily suspended the\r\nremaining bot accounts identified in the court documents for terms of service violations.\r\n“With these actions, the Justice Department has disrupted a Russian-government backed, AI-enabled propaganda\r\ncampaign to use a bot farm to spread disinformation in the United States and abroad,” said Attorney General\r\nMerrick B. Garland. “As the Russian government continues to wage its brutal war in Ukraine and threatens\r\ndemocracies around the world, the Justice Department will continue to deploy all of our legal authorities to\r\ncounter Russian aggression and protect the American people.”\r\n“Today’s action demonstrates that the Justice Department and our partners will not tolerate Russian government\r\nactors and their agents deploying AI to sow disinformation and fuel division among Americans,” said Deputy\r\nAttorney General Lisa Monaco. “As malign actors accelerate their criminal misuse of AI, the Justice\r\nDepartment will respond and we will prioritize disruptive actions with our international partners and the private\r\nsector. We will not hesitate to shut down bot farms, seize illegally obtained internet domains, and take the fight to\r\nour adversaries.”\r\n“Today’s actions represent a first in disrupting a Russian-sponsored Generative AI-enhanced social media bot\r\nfarm,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Russia intended to use this bot farm to disseminate AI-generated\r\nforeign disinformation, scaling their work with the assistance of AI to undermine our partners in Ukraine and\r\ninfluence geopolitical narratives favorable to the Russian government. The FBI is committed to working with our\r\npartners and deploying joint, sequenced operations to strategically disrupt our most dangerous adversaries and\r\ntheir use of cutting-edge technology for nefarious purposes.”\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\n“We support all civic engagement, civil dialogue, and a robust exchange of ideas,” said U.S. Attorney Gary\r\nRestaino for the District of Arizona. “But those ideas should be generated by Americans, for Americans. The\r\ndisruption announced today protects us from those who use unlawful means to seek to mislead our citizens and\r\nour communities.”\r\n“The disruption announced today is the result of a combined response with our international partners to a serious\r\nand unique threat,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois. “Multiple U.S.\r\nand foreign governmental components worked closely and efficiently to address the threat and develop and\r\nexecute a mitigation strategy. Through vigorous enforcement efforts and collaborative international partnerships,\r\nthe Justice Department works tirelessly to disrupt criminal cyber activity.”\r\nOverview\r\nAccording to court documents, a bot farm is an enhanced software package which allows for the creation of false\r\npersonas on social media platforms. Bot farms are enhanced by integrating components which contain artificial\r\nintelligence, such as image production or text generation.\r\nAs described in the affidavits filed in support of the warrants, development of the social media bot farm was\r\norganized by an individual identified in Russia (Individual A). In early 2022, Individual A worked as the deputy\r\neditor-in-chief at RT, a state-run Russian news organization based in Moscow. Since at least 2022, RT leadership\r\nsought the development of alternative means for distributing information beyond RT’s standard television news\r\nbroadcasts. In response, Individual A led the development of software that was able to create and to operate a\r\nsocial media bot farm. As planned, the social media bot farm would create fictitious online personas for social\r\nmedia accounts, through which RT, or any operator of the bot farm, could distribute information on a wide-scale\r\nbasis. The development was executed by Individual B and others, who hid their identities and location (Russia)\r\nwhile beginning to purchase infrastructure for the social media bot farm in April 2022.\r\nIn early 2023, with the approval and financial support of the Presidential Administration of Russia (aka the\r\nKremlin), a Russian FSB officer (FSB Officer 1) created and led a private intelligence organization (P.I.O.), as\r\nexplained in the affidavits. The P.I.O.’s membership was comprised of, among others, employees at RT, including\r\nIndividual A. The true purpose of the P.I.O. was to advance the mission of the FSB and the Russian government,\r\nincluding by spreading disinformation through the social media accounts created by the bot farm.\r\nAccording to the affidavits, FSB Officer 1, Individual A, and other members of the PIO had access to the social\r\nmedia bot farm. The following are examples of Russian-government narratives that the bot farm posted on X in\r\nOctober and November 2023:\r\nA purported U.S. constituent replied to a candidate for federal office’s social media posts regarding the\r\nconflict in Ukraine with a video of President Putin justifying Russia’s actions in Ukraine;\r\nA purported resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, posted a video of President Putin discussing his belief\r\nthat certain geographic areas of Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania were “gifts” to those countries from the\r\nRussian forces that liberated them from Nazi control during World War II;\r\nA purported U.S. resident of a city identified only as “Gresham,” posted a video claiming that the number\r\nof foreign fighters embedded with Ukrainian forces was significantly lower than public estimates;\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nThe same purported individual posted a video of President Putin claiming that the war in Ukraine is not a\r\nterritorial conflict or a matter of geopolitical balance, but rather the “principles on which the New World\r\nOrder will be based.”\r\nTo register the fictitious social media accounts, the social media bot farm relied on private email servers, which in\r\nturn relied on the two domain names seized by the FBI. An individual who controls an internet domain can create\r\nemail accounts using the domain. For example, an individual controlling the domain name www.example.com can\r\ncreate email accounts using @example.com (e.g., EmailAddress@example.com). Here, the actors obtained and\r\ncontrolled the domain names “mlrtr.com” and “otanmail.com” from a U.S.-based provider. They then used those\r\ndomains to create the email servers that ultimately allowed them to create fictitious social media accounts using\r\nthe bot farm software.\r\nThe FSB’s use of U.S.-based domain names, which the software used to register the bots, violates the International\r\nEmergency Economic Powers Act. In addition, the accompanying payments for that infrastructure violate federal\r\nmoney laundering laws.\r\nThe Justice Department commends members of the private sector who coordinated with law enforcement efforts\r\non this disruption, including X for its voluntary efforts to suspend the identified bot accounts from its platform.\r\nPrior to the government’s action, X identified and suspended a significant number of the bot accounts.\r\nThe Justice Department’s investigation is ongoing.\r\nThe National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of\r\nArizona, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois are prosecuting the case, with valuable\r\nassistance from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.\r\nSource: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners\r\nPage 3 of 3",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"ETDA"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international-and-private-sector-partners"
	],
	"report_names": [
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	"threat_actors": [],
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