joe bodnar
@joeabodnar.bsky.social
I track state-backed info ops at @isdglobal.bsky.social. Cited by the Economist, AP, CNN, Washington Post, and others. Opinions mine and open to change
Pro-Kremlin crowd seems pretty upset with Trump today
November 12, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Pro-Kremlin crowd seems pretty upset with Trump today
Storm-1516 and Operation Overload had things to say about Angelina Jolie's trip to Ukraine.
Also, here's another example of a 1516 influencer copying and pasting a DM link into their post. Seem these influencers are getting instructions sent straight to their DMs.
Also, here's another example of a 1516 influencer copying and pasting a DM link into their post. Seem these influencers are getting instructions sent straight to their DMs.
November 12, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Storm-1516 and Operation Overload had things to say about Angelina Jolie's trip to Ukraine.
Also, here's another example of a 1516 influencer copying and pasting a DM link into their post. Seem these influencers are getting instructions sent straight to their DMs.
Also, here's another example of a 1516 influencer copying and pasting a DM link into their post. Seem these influencers are getting instructions sent straight to their DMs.
This high-end 1516 film took only 2 months to produce.
The latest Storm-1516 disinformation campaign is targeting Ukraine with another effigy video, this time the campaign's video depicts the alleged "Ukrainian" soldiers, who are threatening Charlie Kirk's widow Erika Kirk
November 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
This high-end 1516 film took only 2 months to produce.
Reposted by joe bodnar
ISD research featured in WIRED finds ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek & Grok citing Russian state propaganda when asked about the war in Ukraine: “It’s not only an issue of removal, it’s an issue of contextualising further [...] especially if these sources are appearing amongst trusted, verified sources.”
November 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
ISD research featured in WIRED finds ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek & Grok citing Russian state propaganda when asked about the war in Ukraine: “It’s not only an issue of removal, it’s an issue of contextualising further [...] especially if these sources are appearing amongst trusted, verified sources.”
Reposted by joe bodnar
New substack: Al-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
AI-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:42 AM
New substack: Al-Generated US Congressman Fuels False Claims of Somaliland Recognition
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
A number of fake accounts and suspicious news outlets including MiddleEast 24 are pushing the narrative that recognition of Somaliland is inevitable in November
open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...
This Google blog begs the question: How can an organization with all the world's data provide such an incomplete view of Russian IOs? cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...
Pro-Russia Information Operations Leverage Russian Drone Incursions into Polish Airspace | Google Cloud Blog
Pro-Russia information operations promoting narratives related to the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace.
cloud.google.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:34 PM
This Google blog begs the question: How can an organization with all the world's data provide such an incomplete view of Russian IOs? cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...
Think about all the personal data that Saudi Arabia could gobble up with this acquisition
Senators worry that EA, which just released Battlefield 6 last week and also publishes The Sims, Madden, and EA Sports FC, “would cease exercising editorial and operational independence under the control of Saudi Arabia’s private majority ownership.”
🔗 www.404media.co/senators-war...
🔗 www.404media.co/senators-war...
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
‘The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks.’
www.404media.co
October 15, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Think about all the personal data that Saudi Arabia could gobble up with this acquisition
Reposted by joe bodnar
CISA has fallen.
On CISA media call just now to discuss the F5 hack and source code breach, CISA staffer interrupted the discussion to blame the Democrats for the government shutdown and forcing workers to work without pay
October 15, 2025 at 7:24 PM
CISA has fallen.
TikTok says it removed a network of more than a quarter million accounts targeting Moldovans with content meant to promote pro-Russia candidates.
That's an absolutely insane number. It'd be great to get more than three sentences on this op. www.tiktok.com/transparency...
That's an absolutely insane number. It'd be great to get more than three sentences on this op. www.tiktok.com/transparency...
October 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
TikTok says it removed a network of more than a quarter million accounts targeting Moldovans with content meant to promote pro-Russia candidates.
That's an absolutely insane number. It'd be great to get more than three sentences on this op. www.tiktok.com/transparency...
That's an absolutely insane number. It'd be great to get more than three sentences on this op. www.tiktok.com/transparency...
This is why Russian ops have created 700 million stories about Zelensky misusing US funding for Ukraine
October 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
This is why Russian ops have created 700 million stories about Zelensky misusing US funding for Ukraine
I know several people who had some evidence linking REST to Rybar, but the DFR Lab provides definitive proof here.
Really amazing domain analysis. dfrlab.org/2025/09/23/s...
Really amazing domain analysis. dfrlab.org/2025/09/23/s...
Sanctioned Russian actor linked to new media outlet targeting Moldova
REST is linked to the Russian threat actor Rybar, which targets EU countries, along with Moldova.
dfrlab.org
September 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I know several people who had some evidence linking REST to Rybar, but the DFR Lab provides definitive proof here.
Really amazing domain analysis. dfrlab.org/2025/09/23/s...
Really amazing domain analysis. dfrlab.org/2025/09/23/s...
The amount of Russian interference in Moldova is staggering.
September 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The amount of Russian interference in Moldova is staggering.
Reposted by joe bodnar
“Google said in a statement […] “On YouTube, as part of our proactive coverage for the 2025 Moldova elections, we have terminated more than 1,000 channels since June 2024 for being part of coordinated influence operations targeting Moldova.””
Moldova's election faces AI-driven disinformation from Russia
Moldovans are facing a wave of AI-driven disinformation ahead of a crucial parliamentary election on Sunday
abcnews.go.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM
“Google said in a statement […] “On YouTube, as part of our proactive coverage for the 2025 Moldova elections, we have terminated more than 1,000 channels since June 2024 for being part of coordinated influence operations targeting Moldova.””
Great reporting from the BBC. They uncovered a pro-Russia op paying Moldovans to post disinfo.
The DFR Lab apparently did some digging and found a TikTok network linked to the op that's gained 55M views.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The DFR Lab apparently did some digging and found a TikTok network linked to the op that's gained 55M views.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
How Russian-funded fake news network aims to disrupt European election - BBC investigation
An undercover reporter discovers a network is offering to pay for social media posts undermining Moldova’s ruling party.
www.bbc.com
September 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Great reporting from the BBC. They uncovered a pro-Russia op paying Moldovans to post disinfo.
The DFR Lab apparently did some digging and found a TikTok network linked to the op that's gained 55M views.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The DFR Lab apparently did some digging and found a TikTok network linked to the op that's gained 55M views.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
As someone from Georgia, it’s very cool to see my name in the AJC, even if they’re republishing an AP article.
I’ll take it!
www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...
I’ll take it!
www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...
Foreign disinformation about Charlie Kirk's killing seeks to widen US divisions
Russia moved quickly to exploit conservative activist Charlie Kirk's shooting death at a Utah college, with groups linked to the Kremlin spreading false and misleading claims that experts say are desi...
www.ajc.com
September 19, 2025 at 6:52 PM
As someone from Georgia, it’s very cool to see my name in the AJC, even if they’re republishing an AP article.
I’ll take it!
www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...
I’ll take it!
www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...
Oh, come on, what an awesome find: "Frames from Dougan’s interview with French media show a Python script calling Ollama (via a function named restart_ollama()), an LLM inference framework used to run local or self-hosted LLMs."
www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...
www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...
CopyCop Deepens Its Playbook with New Websites and Targets
CopyCop expands Russian influence ops with 300+ fake websites targeting the US, France, Canada & more—using AI, deepfakes, and GRU-backed infrastructure.
www.recordedfuture.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Oh, come on, what an awesome find: "Frames from Dougan’s interview with French media show a Python script calling Ollama (via a function named restart_ollama()), an LLM inference framework used to run local or self-hosted LLMs."
www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...
www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...
Reposted by joe bodnar
Hard to think of a more on-the-nose encapsulation of how far the online speech wars have swung in the year of our lord 2025 than major U.S. corporations racing to fire people whose tweets offended Milo Yiannopoulos
September 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Hard to think of a more on-the-nose encapsulation of how far the online speech wars have swung in the year of our lord 2025 than major U.S. corporations racing to fire people whose tweets offended Milo Yiannopoulos
The Utah governor's claim that Russian bots are exploiting Kirk's death seems true but overblown.
I've seen limited activity from operations like Overload, Undercut, Doppelganger. Pravda published 100+ articles. A few dozen Copy Cop sites posing as local outlets published 90 articles. Nothing viral
I've seen limited activity from operations like Overload, Undercut, Doppelganger. Pravda published 100+ articles. A few dozen Copy Cop sites posing as local outlets published 90 articles. Nothing viral
September 12, 2025 at 4:09 PM
The Utah governor's claim that Russian bots are exploiting Kirk's death seems true but overblown.
I've seen limited activity from operations like Overload, Undercut, Doppelganger. Pravda published 100+ articles. A few dozen Copy Cop sites posing as local outlets published 90 articles. Nothing viral
I've seen limited activity from operations like Overload, Undercut, Doppelganger. Pravda published 100+ articles. A few dozen Copy Cop sites posing as local outlets published 90 articles. Nothing viral
Pretty interesting to see a 1516 video break out so long after it was seeded. Just spotted a Newsmax correspondent amplifying it.
This campaign from January this year, which was alleging that HTS threatened to burn the Notre Dame, seems to be going on another round; however, the dissemination this time seems to be unrelated to the Storm-1516 operators
Looks like a new Storm-1516 disinformation campaign
x.com/Aku_700/stat...
x.com/Aku_700/stat...
September 9, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Pretty interesting to see a 1516 video break out so long after it was seeded. Just spotted a Newsmax correspondent amplifying it.
There's a small, apparently coordinated network of X accounts attacking Rubio and defending Venezuela:
September 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
There's a small, apparently coordinated network of X accounts attacking Rubio and defending Venezuela:
So we’re doing this now, huh?
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Denmark summons US envoy over suspected influence operations in Greenland
Denmark's foreign minister has summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen over intelligence reports alleging covert influence operations by U.S. citizens in Greenland that aimed to whip up opposition to Danish rule, the ministry said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com
August 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
So we’re doing this now, huh?
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Reposted by joe bodnar
Even more emails from Russia's disinformation campaign, with continued targeting of Moldova, and lots of mimicking of Newsguard. I still suspect the volume of videos and images targeting Moldova is an attempt to get the election results called into question because of the interference.
August 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Even more emails from Russia's disinformation campaign, with continued targeting of Moldova, and lots of mimicking of Newsguard. I still suspect the volume of videos and images targeting Moldova is an attempt to get the election results called into question because of the interference.
Been out for a couple days and see Operation Overload migrated to YouTube. The videos I've seen have less than 50 views. The op keeps expanding and keeps being ignored.
August 20, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Been out for a couple days and see Operation Overload migrated to YouTube. The videos I've seen have less than 50 views. The op keeps expanding and keeps being ignored.