Did Ukrainian strikes on Russian datacentres reduce online disinformation?
By Aisha Down
Ukraine’s recent airstrikes on Russian Yandex datacentres sparked claims that Russia’s online disinformation machine had taken a hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested social media had become less hostile, with less hate and fewer provocations. Viral graphs also appeared to show a sharp drop in bot activity. But there’s a catch: not all bots are spreading disinformation.
Experts say the data largely reflects a decline in Yandex’s automated web crawlers, which help search engines index websites—not necessarily the fake social media accounts used in influence campaigns. Researchers monitoring Russian disinformation networks have reported no clear change in their posting patterns. While the strikes may have disrupted some online services, Russia’s disinformation operations are spread across many systems and can use residential internet connections and phone farms, making them difficult to shut down by targeting a few buildings. So what can actually curb these campaigns? Experts point to disrupting the companies and recruitment networks behind them, along with stronger social media moderation. The episode is a useful reminder that viral graphs can be misleading—and that understanding online disinformation requires looking beyond the numbers.
