A Moscow-based disinformation network named “Pravda” — the Russian word for "truth" — is pursuing an ambitious strategy by deliberately infiltrating the retrieved data of artificial intelligence chatbots, publishing false claims and propaganda for the purpose of affecting the responses of AI models on topics in the news rather than by targeting human readers, NewsGuard has confirmed. By flooding search results and web crawlers with pro-Kremlin falsehoods, the network is distorting how large language models process and present news and information. The result: Massive amounts of Russian propaganda — 3,600,000 articles in 2024 — are now incorporated in the outputs of Western AI systems, infecting their responses with false claims and propaganda.
How Doppelganger, one of the biggest Russian disinformation campaigns, is using EU companies to keep spreading its propaganda – despite sanctions.
#Fact-checking
The Putin regime conducts large-scale propaganda not only through its state media but also through “useful idiots,” who focus on demonizing the US, EU, and NATO and have right- or left-wing views. New “multilingual international media” have emerged that write in a way that suits the Kremlin and spread pro-Russian narratives and disinformation, replacing Russia Today and Sputnik, which have received a ban in Europe.
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The Nordic country is testing new ways to teach students about propaganda. Here’s what other countries can learn from its success.
This work is the result of a collaboration with EU DisinfoLab an independent non-profit organization focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU.
EU DisinfoLab has during the past three months been investigating a large disinformation campaign targeting western audience with pro-Russian propaganda. While our partner has focused on the actual disinformation being spread, Qurium has looked into the technical infrastructure in use to better understand how the campaign has been setup and operated.
The complete report from EU Disinfo Lab can be found here: Doppelganger.
Below follows the results of Qurium’s digital forensics investigation and a list of more than 50 domains used in the disinformation campaign.