Exclusive: Russian disinfo floods AI chatbots, study finds

Axios

06-03-2025

A Russian disinformation effort that flooded the web with false claims and propaganda continues to impact the output of major AI chatbots, according to a new report from NewsGuard, shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The study, which expands on initial findings from last year, comes amid reports that the U.S. is pausing some of its efforts to counter Russian cyber activities.
Driving the news: NewsGuard says that a Moscow-based disinformation network named "Pravda" (the Russian word for truth) is spreading falsehoods across the web.
Rather than directly sway people, it aims to influence AI chatbot results.
More than 3.6 million articles were published last year, finding their way into leading Western chatbots, according to the American Sunlight Project.
"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," NewsGuard said in its report.
Newsguard said it studied 10 major chatbots—including those from Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, You.com, xAI, Anthropic, Meta, Mistral and Perplexity—and found that a third of the time they recycled arguments made by the Pravda network.
Zoom in: NewsGuard says the Pravda network has spread at least 207 provably false claims, including many related to Ukraine.
The Pravda network launched in April 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has since grown to cover 49 countries and dozens of languages, NewsGuard said.
Of the 150 sites in the network, about 40 are Russian-language sites using domain names referencing various regions of Ukraine.
A small number are more focused on themes than regions, it said.
Pravda is not producing original content itself, NewsGuard says, but instead is aggregating content from others, including Russian state media and pro-Kremlin influencers.
The big picture: Deliberate falsehoods (disinformation) as well as inadvertent misinformation have both been called out as significant — and pressing — risks of generative AI.
NewsGuard's findings build on a report from February by the U.S.-based American Sunlight Project that warned that the network appeared aimed at influencing chatbots rather than persuading individuals.
"The long-term risks – political, social, and technological – associated with potential LLM grooming within this network are high," the ASP said at the time.
Between the lines: NewsGuard said the strategy "was foreshadowed in a talk American fugitive-turned-Moscow-based-propagandist John Mark Dougan gave in Moscow last January at a conference of Russian officials."
Dougan told the crowd: "By pushing these Russian narratives from the Russian perspective, we can actually change worldwide AI."