Russia has increased the effectiveness of its disinformation campaigning on social media and boasts that vast amounts of fake accounts are escaping detection, according to a report on leaked US intelligence documents.
The latest material disclosed on the Discord chat platform contains claims by Russian operators of false social media accounts that they are detected by social media platforms only 1% of the time. The Russian disinformation network is known as Fabrika, according to the leak.
The claim was detailed in an analysis of Russia’s effectiveness at pushing propaganda on platforms including Twitter, TikTok, Telegram and YouTube. The document, seen by the Washington Post, is undated but refers to internet activity in late 2022 and appears to have been prepared by the US joint chiefs of staff, US Cyber Command and Europe Command, which directs US military activity in Europe.
The Fabrika network is part of Russia’s Main Scientific Research Computing Center, which works directly for the presidential administration and has been attempting to improve its disinformation work, according to the document. “The efforts will likely enhance Moscow’s ability to control its domestic information environment and promote pro-Russian narratives abroad,” it said.
It added that Fabrika appeared to be succeeding despite western sanctions against Russia and Moscow’s own crackdown on social media platforms.
“Bots view, ‘like,’ subscribe and repost content and manipulate view counts to move content up in search results and recommendation lists,” the analysis said. In some cases, Fabrika targets users with disinformation directly after gleaning their emails and phone numbers from databases. The campaign’s goals include demoralising Ukrainians and exploiting divisions among western states, the document added.
Experts have downplayed the 1% claim. Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, said the figure sounded implausible and that sock puppet accounts – a term for accounts with fake identities – need their content to be reposted by plausible accounts such as those operated by influencers.
“The 1% figure sounds dramatic but it may not be having the scale of impact that one might infer,” he said.
Jack Texeira, a US air national guardsman, has been charged with taking and leaking the documents.
As part of an investigation led by Munich-based Paper Trail Media and Der Spiegel, the Guardian revealed last month how a Moscow consultancy called NTC Vulkan was helping the Kremlin spread disinformation, curtail dissent, control sections of the internet and support hacking operations.
A separate classified document from the Discord leak detailed six influence campaigns being planned this year by a new Russian entity, the Center for Special Operations in Cyberspace. The campaigns include: spreading the idea that US officials are hiding vaccine side-effects; that Lithuania, Latvia and Poland want to send Ukrainian refugees back to the frontline; and that Ukraine is recruiting UN employees as spies.
Twitter, YouTube and TikTok have been contacted for comment.
