Although Trump was a subject of the recent posts on Bluesky, most showed #Russia’s preoccupation with #France, which has emerged as the leader of #Europe’s efforts to bolster #Ukraine in the #war, & #Armenia, a former Soviet republic that #elections next month could move further from Moscow’s orbit.

#MediaLiteracy #disinformation #misinformation #Propaganda #RussianPropaganda #tech #SocialMedia #moderation #Bluesky

…#Ukraine is almost always the main target of Matryoshka’s operations, but previous campaigns also tried to discredit preparations for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris & #Trump’s dismantling of #USAID.

The latter was one of #Russia’s most successful #disinformation ops….It featured videos of fabricated news reports suggesting that USAID had paid celebrities, including the actor Ben Stiller, to travel to Ukraine. Millions saw those posts.

#MediaLiteracy #misinformation #Propaganda #SocialMedia

Russian news outlets also cite these fabricated posts, falsely suggesting that the content, mostly in English, originated in the West. The Social Design Agency did not respond to a request for comment.

#RussianPropaganda on #Bluesky first became notable during #Germany’s elections last year, when the Kremlin sought to bolster Germany’s #FarRight, led by the Alternative for Germany party, known as #AfD.

#MediaLiteracy #disinformation #misinformation #Russia #Propaganda #SocialMedia #moderation

…Clemson attributed the #SocialDesignAgency’s campaign to a Kremlin #InfluenceOperation that researchers have called Matryoshka, after the Russian nesting dolls.

The operation, which emerged in 2024, specializes in creating fake articles that look as if they were from real news organizations like Reuters or France 24. The goal seems to be to spread the claims by encouraging fact checkers to debunk them.

#MediaLiteracy #misinformation #Russia #RussianPropaganda #tech #SocialMedia #moderation

#Bluesky has been tracking the activity & removing the posts—as many as a couple of thousand. They came in waves beginning in April & continuing until at least last week.

In a statement, the company called Russian influence operations “an industrywide problem.” “We dedicate significant resources toward detecting & disrupting coordinated inauthentic campaigns,” it said.

#MediaLiteracy #disinformation #misinformation #Russia #Propaganda #RussianPropaganda #tech #SocialMedia #moderation

The campaign, which the researchers at Clemson University linked to the #SocialDesignAgency, a company in Moscow, shows how #Russia continues to seek new ways to erode public support for #Ukraine….

While Russians have long flooded #SocialMedia platforms with fake accounts & #content, #hacking into real accounts appeared to be a novel strategy.

#MediaLiteracy #disinformation #misinformation #Propaganda #RussianPropaganda #tech #moderation

…The compromised #Bluesky accounts included those of people who are influential in their fields, though perhaps not famous. They were journalists & professors, a pollster in Texas, an anime artist & a filmmaker in Hollywood, whose account posted a video doctored by #AI to impersonate a Canadian police official criticizing France’s president, Emmanuel Macron.

#MediaLiteracy #disinformation #misinformation #Russia #Propaganda #RussianPropaganda #tech #SocialMedia #moderation