Russian bot farms are still trolling, even after Ukraine’s drone strikes on Yandex
Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centres prompted claims that Russian bot activity and online spam had fallen. The article says there is no evidence the strikes disrupted disinformation operations, and argues that the claims of a decline may themselves be misleading.
Zelenskyy said social platforms felt less hateful and divisive after the strikes, while some users reported fewer posts and spam messages. However, the account antibot4navalny reported steady bot traffic, including Kremlin-aligned accounts spreading false claims about EU sanctions; Danish analyst Valdemar Osted said activity around MAGA and AfD accounts had increased. Charts suggesting a decline in bots appeared to be AI-generated, and the strikes seem to have affected Yandex web crawlers instead.
- Drone strikes on Yandex did not appear to slow Russian bot farms.
- Bot traffic remained steady, according to a monitoring account.
- Claims of a decline may themselves be disinformation.
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Yandex is one of Russia’s largest technology companies, providing services including search and cloud computing. Data centres house the computers and information that keep online services running, while automated accounts, often called bots, can post messages or amplify claims on social platforms.
Governments, political groups and other actors can use networks of accounts to spread misleading information or make a viewpoint seem more popular than it is. Ukraine has targeted Russian infrastructure during its war with Russia, and claims that such attacks affect online influence campaigns matter because they shape how people judge what they see on social media.