No evidence Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers curbed Russian trolls
A chart showing a drop in Russian bot traffic after Ukrainian drone strikes on data centers is circulating online, but outlets citing experts say it probably doesn't show troll activity falling.
Experts say there is no evidence that Ukrainian attacks on Yandex have disrupted Russian online trolls, BBC News reports.
The Verge reports that several Ukrainian drone strikes over the past week have taken Russian data centers offline. A chart citing Cloudflare data has spread on social media. It reportedly shows a sharp fall in bot traffic.
The Verge says the drop is probably not the kind of bot activity most people link to Russia. BBC News examined whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was right to say the strikes had taken down Russian bots. Its report says experts found no evidence of that.
The reports do not say which kind of bot traffic fell, or give figures from the chart.
Reported by
- The VergeThe Yandex outage probably didn’t blitz Russian botsMon, Oct 12, 11:43 AM EDT
- BBC NewsIs Zelensky right to say data centre strikes have taken down Russian bots?Tue, Oct 13, 9:27 AM EDT
- The VergeRussian bot farms are still trolling, even after Ukraine’s drone strikes on YandexTue, Oct 13, 2:31 PM EDT
- France 24Have Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centres hit Russian online disinformation?Tue, Oct 13, 4:59 PM EDT
This story was written by AI using only the reports listed above, and published without a person reviewing it first. It is rewritten as new reports arrive. Read the original reporting for full detail. Spot an error? Tell us.