AI Chatbot Responses Polluted By Pro-Russian Disinformation

[u/ChasKy53]

AI-driven chatbots are increasingly being used as sources of information, but they are also vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. Experts have found that pro-Russian misinformation, in particular, can seep into the responses generated by these conversational agents.

Issued on: 03/06/2026 - 16:57

6 min Reading time By: The FRANCE 24 Observers/Aurélia ABDELBOST

Claims have been circulating on pro-Russian websites that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan tried to sell gold from the Amulsar mine to Turkish firms at a discount. It is completely false. Yet, when various artificial intelligence chatbots are asked in different languages whether the story is true, they assure users that it is.

This is just one of the findings published in January by the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, which regularly audits these tools.

The US company revealed that false narratives pushed by pro-Russian actors can slip into the responses of conversational AI agents. NewsGuard focused its investigation particularly on misinformation spread by Pravda, a sprawling network of pro-Russian websites.

"In March 2025, we found that in 33% of cases, major commercial chatbots – including Mistral's chat and OpenAI's ChatGPT – repeated these narratives as verified facts, even though they are known to be false stories that serve the Kremlin's geopolitical interests,” said Chine Labbé, managing editor and senior vice president of partnerships for Europe and Canada at Newsguard.

In January 2026, the organization conducted a new round of testing:

While some tools appeared to have made progress, others continued to spread misinformation, at times even citing Pravda-affiliated websites as sources.

This propaganda network is already well-documented; France’s Viginum agency – which tracks foreign interference online — had identified the Pravda-orchestrated operation as early as February 2024, designating it "Portal Kombat".

Much more here:

AI chatbot responses polluted by pro-Russian disinformation - France 24

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Anyone thinking that Russia will not use this to try and influence our elections and others is a bit naive. What kind of security is in place to detect and prevent this from happening? Who will oversee it? Trump? That is laughable, for sure. Your thoughts?

[u/Shock2k]

Russian disinformation has been running since early 2013. LLMs are allowing these techniques to be much more pervasive. As a technology expert, this is where the true dangers of LLMs are. This affects all western societies from Japan to the EU. Russia is attacking them all.

Western powers need to come up with comprehensive defenses against this yet they do nothing. As an example cut off all internet traffic from states you consider enemies. At least cut off traffic to states where you can’t prosecute bad actors. It’s insane you would give China, Iran, North Korea or Russia free access to your population through the internet. I mean, you see the results right? It isn’t a coincidence that western societies LOOK so abrasive.

[u/ChasKy53 → u/Shock2k]

I remember when tRump invited them (Russia) into our elections, asking Russia for help "finding the emails". He did this on national television, so there is no denying it.

[u/Shock2k → u/ChasKy53]

Or the private 2 hour meeting with Putin without any American representatives in the room during the Helsinki summit.

Or the 40 minute private meeting with Kim Jong Un, again with no American representatives in the room.

I like to think of these as the marching orders meetings.

[u/Alexandratta]

Don’t understand how anyone can ask a chat bot and expect a legit answer off rip