On Monday, The Security Service of Ukraine (also known as the SBU) had announced that they had discovered and destroyed five bot farms since the war had started with Russia. These bot farms were spreading misinformation to Ukrainian citizens during the war, causing panic among them. These bot farms had over 100,000 fake social media accounts spreading this misinformation, and some are even responsible for spreading fake bomb threats.
At these bot farms, The Security Service of Ukraine had found at least 100 GSM gateways, close to 10,000 SIM cards, and other laptops and mobile devices. This equipment allowed for these bot farms to run at large capacity.
What is a bot farm?
A bot farm manages a large number of fake accounts to create more traffic towards areas on the internet. This traffic is created by these fake accounts clicking on social media posts, liking the posts, sharing them, and commenting on them. This eventually leads to real accounts eventually coming across these posts and could even cause a social media post to become viral.
Bot farms have more applications than just this, some other examples of how bot farms are used today are:
- Creating traffic on other websites
- Downloading apps in the app store and improving their reviews.
- Click frauds, which is the process of clicking on internet ads that will increase revenue on a website and increase advertising revenue.
What can be done to counter bot farms?
In relation to Ukraine, there is now a fact check bot that can detect whether information is relevant or not. The “Perivika” bot was created recently, and The Center of Countering Disinformation at The Nation Security and Defence Council of Ukraine recommends this bot for Ukrainian citizens to fight against misinformation bot farms. Internet users can send a website link of suspected misinformation and the bot will verify if it is real or fake.
Takeaways
While using the internet, it is very important to be aware of what you are viewing on social media or websites in general. Don’t panic if you see a social media post or internet article of concern. There is a good chance that a bot farm could be responsible. Always make sure that you do the proper research in the content that you are viewing. Having trusted sources is a great way to ensure that you are receiving trusted information.
References
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukraine-takes-out-five-bot-farms-spreading-panic-among-citizens/
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2022/03/ukraine-shuts-down-disinformation-bot-farm/
https://therecord.media/ukraine-dismantles-social-media-bot-farm-spreading-panic/
Very nice post. It is interesting to see how effective bot farms can be. I had never really thought about it, but they could be used to make something look much more important than it actually is. Or in this case, cause mass panic in Ukraine. It is good to hear that Ukraine security was able to take care of the issue, because I’m sure that its citizens are already worried enough as it is. Your post was very informative for me, since I was not too sure what bot farms could be used for, but you put it into perspective for me. Thanks!
Great post!
It can be difficult at times to tell whether something posted online is real or not. I am glad Ukraine has a fact-checker bot to aid Ukrainian citizens and others in combating Russian mis- and disinformation.
Before this, I did not know much about bot farms. However, it is now clear why so many applications on the app store have such high ratings and reviews while the app itself is of poor quality.
I agree with your takeaways about doing your research on the content you are viewing and reading. I also propose that you report any fake information or claims you come across and avoid interacting with them. You do not want more attention to the account and the fake information because it has the potential to spread and cause widespread panic.
Hey, great post! I am not suprised after reading the post because Bot Farms have recently been the tool of the authoritarian regimes to spread misinformation not only in the West but also in their own countries. Apparently, I read somewhere that India, China, Russia, and Israel are the biggest contributors to Bot farm where they spread misinformation to achieve their own nefarious ends. I think there should be more regulation of these farms to curtail their misinformation on a global scale.
Good post! Given the sea of comments an average social media user encounters on a daily basis, it can definitely get tiring trying to discern what is disinformation and what is not. I agree with your point that it’s critical to get your information from trusted sources. However, who’s to say that they are not being artificially influenced either?
Great post! The spread of Russian bots is a familiar phenomenon. The idea of using a fact check bot sounds very useful. It’s hard for the common user to recognize whether a post is made by a real person or not. Bots have gotten so intuitive lately that bot posts can blend in with normal posts pretty easily on social media. This can lead to manufactured conflict between groups, and push an agenda or promote false ideals. Also, since they leave many false reviews, consumers also suffer a lot. One huge example is the controversy surrounding the 2016 US presidential election. There was such an uproar regarding Russian bots spreading misinformation to sway it. The spread of misinformation by these bots is quite concerning as this has a huge impact on society as we can see.
Was the Bot farm in Ukraine or Russian occupied territory? since I think it would be quite risky to have such a bot farm in an area like that. Since if you lose that bot farm it would damage your international reputation as bot farms are generally looked down upon in the west. Also the use of information as warfare seems quite important currently as keeping your own information and trying to sow dissent on opposing forces are important to warfare, I think that the removal of these farms are good for Ukraine since it will not clog their communications with disinformation. In addition I liked how your article pointed out a potential countermeasure for false information with the new fact checking bot, however I wonder if the bot will ever get infect and spread disinformation as well since Russia has such a robust cyber warfare capabilities.
Interesting post! It will be interesting to see how these bots will be combated in the future. We saw lots of talk about misinformation lately with regards to Ukraine and COVID. Will there be an arms race of misinformation bots and fact-checker bots?
Its kind of scary to think that it will be hard to get reliable information online on active political issues.
Great post! I knew about the existence of bots, but I had never heard of bot farms before! It can be difficult to know whether information found online is true or not, due to the sheer amount of misinformation and how quickly it can be spread across the internet. Misinformation has been a powerful tool used by Russia in this conflict and I am glad Ukraine was able to put a fact check bot in place. I wonder if bots like this may become more commonplace, I think they would be helpful to have on most social media platforms. While I think completely stopping the spread of misinformation online would be impossible, I agree with you that there are actions an individual can take to help reduce the spread, such as fact-checking before believing or sharing information.
Very Informative. I never knew that bots could be assembled in such an organized and sophisticated manner. Russia has developed quite the reputation for social media bots I have never known how they operated physically. I am glad Ukraine discovered the presence of these bot farms. I hope that the implementation of fact-check-bots counters the farm bots. Social media users should always be wary of information that they come across online.
If there is any lesson to be learned from this, it is to not believe everything you read on social media, especially if it involves a war or any sensitive global event. It’s pretty disappointing to see the internet, which was originally purposed as a method got access to information at any place or time, can be used equally as effectively to spread misinformation. The thing with bot farms as well is they take advantage of human nature, to conform or believe something if many other people do, hence why bot farm creators use their creations to drive traffic and create a false sense of confirmation around a “fact” or “event”. Thank you for the post, it’s good to hear that the bot farms have been taken down.
Misinformation is a great device to create false narratives and to get people to buy into a cause. It sucks to see that people continuously fall prey upon these bots, and I believe it is important that there should be more defense mechanisms to help those who may not be aware of what they are reading is not true. Information is key, and due to the increasing availability of it, it is important to keep people informed against those who wish to take advantage of them. Great post!
Good post! Let us know how effective bot farms can be. Bot Farms have become the tool of authoritarian regimes. From this post, we can see that the misinformation spread by these bots is very worrying because it has a huge impact on society. I think there should be more regulation of these farms to reduce their misinformation globally.
Very interesting post! I didn’t even know there were robot farms. In a robot farm, a computer controls and manages everything on the farm, and workers have become victims of these robots. From the article we can see that the false information spread by these robot farms has caused people’s panic. While the government is strengthening the management of these farms, people should also discern various kinds of information on the Internet.
Interesting post! I think another common word for bot farms spreading misinformation is “astroturfing”. Obviously in the case of a war, like what’s happening right now in Ukraine, is a very serious issue with potentially deadly consequences for misinformation, and measures taken against such bot farms would be undoubtedly justified. But in the case of more benign astroturfing, do you think there should still be measures taken by states to counter it? Or is it justifiable as free speech in your opinion
Very Informative post! But the issue with this is that they will keep on popping up(bot farms), and I wonder if there is a way to properly address the issue and help properly address the issue of misinformation on the internet.
Very important post especially with all the misinformation being spread especially in times like these with the ongoing war. This also shows that you really have to look into and research what you’re viewing as just a large number of likes comments or shares is not enough with the possibility of these bot farms.
Great post! I feel like everything has a sort of bias no matter what, even news articles will have a little bit of bias, so I agree with your point in checking different sources so help you as an individual form your own opinion. But even this is something I don’t trust, I feel like all the data that sites collect from us can be showing us sides of the internet that only pertain to our already formed worldview.
Great post! I think in the current high risk situation it’s often really easily to fall for these types of misinformation spreading bots. Almost like a self fulfilling prophecy, we already have high anxiety around situations pertaining to Ukraine we are more inclined to believe the bad news. Its important to always take a second before hand and see if something is feeding off our uncertainty or in fact real. I’m glad the made a counter bot of sorts that will help verify the news and a hats off to Ukraine for fighting a battle taking place in so many different fronts.
Wow, I had no idea bot farms existed. It is incredible the amount of money being invested into these projects simply to spread propaganda and direct traffic to specific websites. It’s nice to see that helpful bots are being developed to counter this issue.
Very interesting post! I had no idea that these “fake accounts” on social media could be ran from a bot farm. From the war point-of-view, it’s interesting how this is a method used to wreak havoc and demoralize the civilians, even though they are not directly in the battlefield. I was also very surprised to see that bot farms are used to create fake reviews on websites and products. This gives me a reason to be more cautious when purchasing things online.
This is a great post! It’s always good to be cautious over learning information through media outlets, especially information regarding politics. Your post shows how easy it is to spread misinformation in this age of technology. I for one see a lot of news related items on tiktok and instagram regarding political news and it makes me wonder if it is actually genuine knowledge being spread. It’s really unfortunate to see that these bots were there in the first place, but its great to hear that there is a fact check bot now.
The blog is very engaging and concise. Thanks for sharing. I knew about bot farms a while ago when many people start to use it for “creating traffic” on their websites. Apparently, they can be used for political purposes, which makes them even more dangerous. You’re right! We have to verify the source of information before actually follow/believe in any media posts.
Very interesting post!
Shocking to read that the bot farms have over 100,000 fake social media accounts spreading false information including fake bomb threats. Bot farms are dangerous because, if people start believing the wrong information, their mental health can go downhill. I am glad the SBU destroyed the 5 bot farms, hopefully more will be destroyed.
I agree! To not be affected by these bot farms, the general users also need to think twice before trusting anything on the internet. They should cross-check with other sources to see if there are any discrepancies in any information.
Very good post , the ideas were on point , and i could understand most of them , good job !
Good Post! It is very concise and informative. It is rather scary that over 100,000 fake social media accounts were found to be Russian bots. This was only from 5 discovered farms, I’d imagine that Russia has many more. The danger posed by these farms cannot be underestimated, especially regarding how they interact with social media, the potential for massive spreads of disinformation is enormous. I Googled that Facebook alone has 2.912 billion monthly active users, meaning that its reach and influence is enormous, imagining that such a large number of people could be exposed to misinformation that was spread “organically” via the usage of these bots is a very scary idea indeed.
Great post, I never knew that these Bot Farms are manipulating the social media like this. We should be careful when using social media cause we do not know what information is true or false.
Bot farms are another example of how cybersecurity is more important than ever. I learned from this post how they work and what they can be used from. It’s important that we all practice good cybersecurity so that your device does not become infected with malware and you unknowingly become part of a bot farm.
This is an excellent article! I believe that everything has a bias, even news stories, thus I agree with your argument about reviewing multiple sources to help you build your own viewpoint. It’s critical to constantly take a second before acting to determine if anything is preying on our fear or if it’s true. I’m delighted they created a counter bot to assist verify the story, and kudos to Ukraine for fighting a war that is being waged on so many fronts.
Great Post! I wonder how bot farms work, as you mentioned, prohibiting automated bots to acquire tickets for public events and making it illegal for scalpers to sell those tickets. Thank for providing such an informative post.
Great post, I find it interesting to see how bot farms can give fake news and even bomb threats credibility that they otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s a good thing that they were taken down, I’d be interested to look more into how misinformation coming from bot farms is recognized as such- the best and most believable lies always have an element of truth, and this is why people believe the lie- I can see this potentially making it hard for people to detect when misinformation from bot farms is being presented.
Great post! I enjoyed learning more about bot farms. I have heard of bot farms intended to create traffic for fake accounts or websites, but learning its impacts during the Ukraine crisis is still surprising. It’s good to hear that the Ukrainian government is able to regulate the situation and have the bots destroyed. I’m interested in learning more about what can be done to prevent the bot farms from entering social media and other online platforms.
This is an interesting subject! The propagation of Russian bots is a well-known occurrence. Using a fact-checking bot sounds like a great idea. It’s difficult for the average user to tell whether or not a post was posted by a real individual. Bots have become so clever in recent years that they may easily mix in with regular posts on social media.
Great post! The Russia vs. Ukraine blogs have been really interesting. Everyday I come across something new. The idea of using bot farms for fake news is great since fake news can cause a lot of panic. Overall, great post.
As great as it is to see governments taking action against Bot Farms, I’m skeptical that they don’t have ‘farms’ of their own.
Great post! I’m curious to know what social media platforms these bot farms were most active in. My assumption of course would be that the farms were most active on Meta’s platforms, but I also know that access to Facebook and other services has been shut down in Russia since the onset of the war. Was there any indication among the articles that you read which suggested that the bot-farms were state sponsored? Russia has been known to employ bot-farms extensively, and they often operate them from within the countries which they are trying to manipulate.
Good Post! It’ll be fascinating to watch how these bots are dealt with in the future. Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion concerning misinformation regarding the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and the COVID-19 pandemic. The notion of a fact checking bot sounds interesting but I wonder how efficient they would be. It makes me wonder how the misinformation bots would still try to find ways to spread rumours and disinformation when fact-checker bots are present. It annoys me that individuals continue to fall victim to these misinformation bots, and I feel that stronger protection measures are needed to assist those that cannot differentiate between what’s true and what’s not. It’s frightening to think that getting trustworthy information about current political matters, online, would be difficult.
Where I am from, the daily headlines would always be swarmed with countless number of bots. If the argument is against the government the bots would try what they can to steer the conversation to their side without any moral limit. Seeing that Ukraine has come up with a method to combat misinformation and online propaganda is refreshing. At the same time, certainly there would be false positives involved. But given the current situation it is a very small tradeoff nonetheless.
Nice post! It’s fascinating to see how important cybersecurity has become in the wake of war. This is a new flavour of warfare, reliant on cybersecurity. I knew that bot farms existed, however, to see them used in a war, is an interesting application. And considering how effective this strategy has been, we should definitely expect more to come and create technology to defend against. Especially since despite the many warnings of “why to always check that the sources are reliable” many people will never do that. And are in fact, too lazy such as myself. It also doesn’t help that on social media, we probably spend a less than a minute on any post.
Interesting post. It’s really interesting to see how important cybersecurity has become during this war between Russia and Ukraine. I had no idea that bot farms could be used like this. Seeing how well this bot farm attack went, I think cybersecurity definitely needs to consider that and come up with some sort of solution for it.
Awesome post! These cyber threats are getting out of hand when it comes to the ongoing war. I know that on instagram, that there are a lot of bot accounts that make an account popular, so that it gets more attention but when you check the comments of a post (of the account with millions of subscribers), you will see there are a couple comments. I see that these bot farms were functioning in the same way and its honestly really sad to see these happen to the citizens of Ukraine. People should just check different sources, before forming any personal opinions, when it comes to dealing with the internet.
I’ve mostly seen these types of bot farms in music or youtube videos where people pay to increase streams to make them look more popular than they are but I can see that there is alot scarier application to these since they could make fake articles seem much more valid!