Moscow uses AI to create fake news with scarce results, Meta

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 17 - Russia is using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in its online disinformation campaigns - so far with scarce results, according to the latest report published by Meta.
    The so-called Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB) is at the centre of the report - or coordinated efforts aimed at manipulating public debate for a strategic objective in which fake accounts are at the centre of the operation, it said.
    The social network giant, which owns Facebook and Instagram, noted different trends in the use of the new technology to create and amplify the promotion of fake news.
    For example, generative AI was deployed to generate posts and translate content in Doppelganger, the most persistent operation of Russian influence.
    It was also used to create unique images that can elude automatic detection at scale, it said.
    For Meta, however, the tactics used by generative AI "provide authors of threats only incremental gains in terms of productivity and content generation" without hindering "the capability" of the social giant to "interrupt their operations of influence".
    Russia, the report noted, remains "the primary source" of world CIB networks, followed by Iran and China.
    Yet while disinformation campaigns waged by the Kremlin initially concerned various themes, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine they have focused on support to Kyiv in its defence against Russia.
    For this reason, starting from now until the US elections, Meta said it expects Russia-based operations promoting content to support candidates who oppose aiding Ukraine and who criticize those in favour of its defence.
    The report noted that this could translate into "attributing economic difficulties to the United States" in the provision of financial aid to Ukraine, painting the Ukrainian government as untrustworthy or amplifying voices that express opinions in favour of Russia regarding the war and its perspective, it said.
    (ANSA).