Recent claims that Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers have significantly reduced Kremlin-linked bot networks are not supported by evidence, according to experts consulted by BBC Verify. These claims gained traction online following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's suggestion that recent attacks had led to "less hate, less division and fewer provocations" online due to "fewer bots."
Russian influence operations, which researchers and journalists have tracked for over a decade, aim to promote pro-Kremlin narratives and spread disinformation on social media platforms. These campaigns often focus on contentious issues such as the war in Ukraine or messages supporting Moscow's broader interests.
Ukraine has conducted strikes on three of Yandex's five data centers since October 8, in retaliation for Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian internet infrastructure. A strike on October 12 reportedly caused Yandex, often described as Russia's equivalent to Google, to acknowledge difficulties in maintaining its services.
The assertion that these strikes have impacted Russian disinformation operations, including those targeting political movements like the Make American Great Again (MAGA) movement in the U.S. and Germany's far-right AfD party, appears to stem from a misinterpretation of data from the tech firm Cloudflare. Some social media users have circulated charts indicating a decline in bot activity associated with Yandex's network. However, while bots are often associated with fake social media accounts used for spreading false or inflammatory content, they also serve legitimate functions, such as automating web page scanning for search engines.