News · curated 31 Jul 2026
Disrupting a new covert influence campaign from Russia
First reported · updated · 4 reports openai.com
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Why it matters
OpenAI's disruption of a Russia-linked influence operation shows how state-aligned actors leverage LLMs to mass-produce and translate deceptive content while masking their origin, a persistent abuse pattern defenders tracking disinformation must monitor.
OpenAI banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts originating in Russia that were used to generate English-language social media comments across Substack, Telegram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn to promote the International Burke Institute (IBI), a front presenting itself as an Israel-based 'expert community.' The operators used VPNs to bypass Russia access restrictions and instructed ChatGPT to hide linguistic clues of their Russian origin, as part of a covert influence campaign that reached relatively small audiences.