Hundreds of websites are now linking to pro-Russia propaganda

Hundreds of English-language websites are linking to articles from a pro-Kremlin network flooding the internet with disinformation, according to a London-based thinktank.

- Aisha Down

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that in more than 80% of citations it analysed, the websites treated the network as a credible source, legitimising its narratives and increasing its visibility. The disinformation operation - known as the Pravda network - was identified by the French government last year.

The ISD cautioned that by linking to articles in the network, websites were inadvertently increasing the likelihood of search engines and large language models (LLMs) surfacing the pages, even when they disputed the Pravda network as a source. The websites ranged from mainstream news outlets to fringe blogs.

Security experts have expressed fears that Russia is trying to seed chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini with pro-Russia narratives by feeding them large volumes of disinformation, a process that is called “LLM grooming”.