The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it has broken up a Russian operation that used fake social media accounts enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) to covertly spread pro-Kremlin messages in the United States and abroad.
The news comes four months before the US presidential election, which security experts believe will be subject to cyberattacks and covert attempts to influence social media by foreign adversaries.
Senior US officials have publicly stated that they are monitoring plans to interfere with the vote.
The alleged operation, according to prosecutors, was organized through a private intelligence organization based in Russia, with personnel from the Russian intelligence services and a senior employee of the news outlet. Russia Todayeither RTbased in Moscow and funded by the government.
A spokesperson for RT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The private organization designed a custom AI-powered platform to create, monitor and manage hundreds of fake social media accounts that posed as real Americans, according to court documents.
In total, he created around 1,000 accounts on social network X. Those profiles have since been banned.
The accounts often posted pro-Kremlin messages and criticized the Ukrainian government.
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