Ukraine takes down 1,000,000 disinformation bots

Ukrainian authorities shut down a bot farm of one million bots used to spread misinformation on social media.

The bot farm’s goal was to discredit official Ukrainian state sources, destabilise the country’s social and political situation, and incite internal strife.

The SSU investigation led to the arrest of the criminal group’s leader, a Russian “political expert” who had previously lived in Kyiv.

The SSU has identified and mitigated over 1,200 cyberattacks against the state and other critical entities, as well as reported and deactivated 500 YouTube channels with a total of 15 million subscribers. ‘

According to the agency, 1,500 Telegram channels and bots, as well as 1,000 Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, are spreading Russian propaganda.