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AI incident #968 ·

'Pravda' Network, Successor to 'Portal Kombat,' Allegedly Seeding AI Models with Kremlin Disinformation

Open on the AI Incident Database 27 news reports Snapshot 7 Sep 2026

What happened

A purported Moscow-based disinformation network, Pravda, allegedly infiltrated AI models by flooding the internet with pro-Kremlin falsehoods. A NewsGuard audit found that 10 major AI chatbots repeated these narratives 33% of the time, citing Pravda sources as legitimate. The tactic, called "LLM grooming," manipulates AI training data to embed Russian propaganda. Pravda is part of Portal Kombat, a larger Russian disinformation network identified by VIGINUM in February 2024, but in operation sinc

Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.

News reports (27)

Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.

  1. French security experts identify Moscow-based disinformation network
    theguardian.com · Kim Willsher, Lisa O'Carroll · AIID #4946
  2. Foreign digital interference – Result of investigations into the Russian propaganda network Portal Kombat (15 February 2024)
    diplomatie.gouv.fr · Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs · AIID #4856
  3. Pravda, Russia's disinformation network, 'expanding' in Europe despite efforts to stop it
    euronews.com · Anna Desmarais · AIID #4894
  4. 20 June: Operation Overload: “Please check” – how pro-Russian propagandists’ try to manipulate newsrooms
    disinfo.eu · EU DisinfoLab · AIID #4896
  5. Russia’s so-called “Pravda” network expands worldwide
    dfrlab.org · Valentin Châtelet, Amaury Lesplingart · AIID #4922
  6. NEW REPORT: Russian propaganda may be flooding AI models
    americansunlight.org · American Sunlight Project · AIID #4855
  7. Russian propaganda may be flooding AI models
    americansunlight.substack.com · American Sunlight Project · AIID #4895
  8. A well-funded Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western artificial intelligence tools worldwide with Russian propaganda
    newsguardrealitycheck.com · McKenzie Sadeghi, Isis Blachez · AIID #4853
  9. Exclusive: Russian disinformation floods AI chatbots, study finds
    axios.com · Ina Fried · AIID #4854
  10. Russian propaganda is being spread through popular AI chatbots: report
    abcnews4.com · Cory Smith · AIID #4857
  11. Major Western AI chatbots, including ChatGPT-4-o, echo Russian propaganda about war in Ukraine
    cybernews.com · Paulius Grinkevičius · AIID #4892
  12. NewsGuard: Russian Disinformation Network Floods AI Chatbots
    newsmax.com · Solange Reyner · AIID #4893
  13. Russian disinformation has 'infected' all popular AI chatbots, study says
    mezha.media · Taras Mishchenko · AIID #4887
  14. Russia flooding training data to influence chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude
    meduza.io · Meduza · AIID #4888
  15. Russian Disinformation Infiltrates AI Systems - https://eutoday.net
    eutoday.net · Inna Chefranova · AIID #4889
  16. 3.6 million fake articles: how Russian propaganda influences the results of AI chatbots like OpenAI and Meta A
    dev.ua · Наталя Хандусенко, Nataliya Khandusenko · AIID #4890
  17. 3,6 млн фейкових статей: як російська пропаганда впливає на результати чат-ботів ШІ, такі як OpenAI й Meta A
    dev.ua · Наталя Хандусенко, Nataliya Khandusenko · AIID #4891
  18. Russian fake news network floods western AI chatbots with millions of propaganda articles
    the-decoder.com · Matthias Bastian · AIID #4930
  19. Russian propaganda floods popular AI chatbots, spreading disinformation — NewsGuard report
    english.nv.ua · The New Voice of Ukraine · AIID #4931
  20. Russian Disinformation 'Infects' Popular AI Chatbots
    pcmag.com · Will McCurdy · AIID #4980
  21. Russian disinformation 'infects' AI chatbots, researchers warn
    france24.com · France 24, AFP · AIID #4976
  22. Russian Propaganda Has Now Infected Western AI Chatbots — New Study
    forbes.com · Tor Constantino · AIID #4977
  23. AI chatbots 'infected' with Russian propaganda: report
    newsweek.com · Theo Burman · AIID #4979
  24. Russia ‘Infected’ Chatbots with Propaganda – AI Repeats Russian Fake Narratives in 33% of Cases
    mil.in.ua · Дмитро Шумлянський, Dmytro Shumlyanskyi · AIID #4978
  25. Russian networks flood the Internet with propaganda, aiming to corrupt AI chatbots
    thebulletin.org · Annie Newport, Nina Jankowicz · AIID #5034
  26. Russia seeds chatbots with lies. Any bad actor could game AI the same way.
    washingtonpost.com · Joseph Menn · AIID #5061
  27. Maybe AI Slop Is Killing the Internet, After All
    bloomberg.com · Issie Lapowsky · AIID #5162

Who was involved

Alleged harmed party
Policymakers, National Security And Intelligence Stakeholders, Media Consumers, Journalists, Journalistic Integrity, Governments, Government Of Ukraine, General Public Of Ukraine, General Public, Epistemic Integrity, Democratic Integrity, Chatbot Users

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Causal entity
Human
Intent
Intentional
Timing
Post-deployment
Harm level
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Sectors
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Countries
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Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 4.1.

  • Coercion/manipulation

    "Coercion/manipulation - Use of a technology system to covertly alter user beliefs and behaviour using nudging, dark patterns and/or other opaque techniques, resulting in potential erosion of privacy, addiction, anxiety/...

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Electoral interference

    "Electoral interference - Generation of false or misleading information that can interrupt or mislead voters and/or undermine trust in electoral processes."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Political manipulation

    "Political manipulation - Use or misuse of personal data to target individuals’ interests, personalities and vulnerabilities with tailored political messages via micro-advertising or deepfakes/synthetic media."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Political and Economic

    "Political and Economic - Manipulation of political beliefs, damage to political institutions and the effective delivery of government services."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Biased influence through citizen screening and tailored propaganda

    "AI-powered chatbots tailor their communication approach to influence individual users' decisions. In the UK, a form of initial computational propaganda has already happened during the Brexit referendum. In future, there...

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Political

    "In the UK, a form of initial computational propaganda has already happened during the Brexit referendum1 . In future, there are concerns that oppressive governments could use AI to shape citizens’ opinions"

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Surveillance and Censorship

    "Content moderation has emerged as one of the key use-cases of LLMs (Weng et al., 2023), indicating the potential of LLMs for surveillance and censorship as well (Edwards, 2023). Surveillance and censorship are one of th...

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

  • Disinformation and manipulation of public opinion

    "AI, particularly general- purpose AI, can be maliciously used for disinformation (351), which for the purpose of this report refers to false information that was generated or spread with the deliberate intent to mislead...

    International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI (Bengio2024)

Incidents in the same risk subdomain

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