The Ukrainian government through the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided five Russian hoax-spreading bot factories, which spread false information regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Five hoax bot factories were raided, which in total operate 100 thousand social media accounts to spread hoaxes related to the invasion, as quoted by Techspot, Wednesday (30/3/2022).
The SBU said the factories were located in a number of locations in Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Ternopil and Zakarpattia. Bots managed at the site were used to sabotage large-scale information, including spreading various Russian propaganda.
The main purpose of the factory, according to Ukraine, is to cause unrest in Ukrainian citizens and disrupt the social and political conditions in the country.
During the raid, various equipment, such as more than 100 GSM gateway devices, 10,000 SIM cards, laptops, and various computer equipment containing evidence of various violations were confiscated.
From the photos distributed by the SBU, it can be seen that a number of cellphones, flash drives, weapons, and ammunition were confiscated from the factory.
The SBU also alleged that the workers at the factory worked under the orders of Russian special services, and they immediately processed the workers according to the laws in force in Ukraine.
Russia itself has long been accused of being the source of various misinformation campaigns and the spread of online threats in Ukraine, whose numbers have skyrocketed since they invaded Ukraine.
The battle between Russia and Ukraine is indeed taking place in various spaces, including on the internet. Cyber attacks from Russia have also been bombarding various websites and computer systems in Ukraine since the invasion took place about a month ago.