Partnered with a School and a Church? Inside Russia's 'Stop News' Influence Network

Hey there, it's Shiichan! Today I want to walk you through a Russia-origin influence operation.

OpenAI News openai.com

What was announced?

OpenAI's News page announced that it had banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts generating content in English, French, and Russian. That content was then posted by a number of websites and social media accounts across multiple platforms. The activity originated in Russia and looked consistent with an operation run by a marketing company. Because two of the websites involved used the brand "newstop," OpenAI named this operation "Stop News." The investigation itself started after OpenAI reviewed off-platform indicators mentioned in Meta's Q2 2024 threat report.

Why it matters

What stands out here is just how broadly this operation used AI, short comments, long-form articles, and images all generated with models. English and French long-form articles ran on a cluster of websites posing as news outlets in Africa and the UK, while short comments were posted on X (and possibly Facebook and Instagram before Meta's own takedown). Russian-language content served as promotional copy for commercial services around Saint Petersburg, on both websites and Russian-language forums. It's a case worth remembering as an example of one operation stretching AI across multiple languages and multiple goals at once.

What changes

OpenAI banned the accounts tied to this network and shared indicators with relevant authorities and distribution platforms. On the Breakout Scale, OpenAI rated it Category 3: posting activity spanned multiple platforms, with some evidence that real organizations and individuals engaged with it, though it never reached the kind of viral spread seen in larger Russian troll campaigns.

Dive Deep

Some of the details OpenAI uncovered about Stop News are genuinely odd.

• Many articles and tweets came with DALL·E-generated cartoon-style images in bright colors, apparently meant to catch the eye, though actual engagement stayed low
• At the same time, many profile pictures used older-generation AI faces made with GANs (generative adversarial networks), mixing old and new AI technology in the same operation
• In English, britishtalks.com stuck to UK news, sports, and culture, while euronewstop.co.uk mixed that content with criticism of Ukraine and of the UK's support for it
• In French, the operation covered West African music and culture alongside criticism of Ukraine and of France's handling of the Paris Olympics, a recurring theme in Russian influence operations since Russia was banned from Olympic competition
• Russian-language content masqueraded as promotional copy for real businesses, including website text for a Saint Petersburg renovation company and an "official reply" to a customer review on Yandex
• Surprisingly, the UK-focused sites had established "information partnerships" with real institutions, including a school in Wales and a church in Yorkshire, both of which publicized the partnership on their own sites, though how these arrangements came about remains unclear
• Social engagement stayed weak overall: most identified X accounts had double-digit followers, and Meta reported a combined Facebook and Instagram following of just 2,100

There's something unsettling about an operation that managed to land real-world partnerships with a school and a church while barely making a dent on social media.

Wrap-up

• OpenAI banned Stop News, a Russia-origin network generating multilingual content
• English and French long-form articles and images fed fake news sites, while Russian comments promoted commercial services
• It landed "information partnerships" with real institutions like a Welsh school and a Yorkshire church, despite weak social media traction (about 2,100 total followers)
• The Breakout Scale rating was Category 3, based on multi-platform activity and some engagement from real organizations
• Worth a read if you're tracking AI safety, this one blends old-school GAN faces with modern DALL·E and ChatGPT output!