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Yhn BusinessLabor first seen 7 d ago, last 10 h ago, peak #9

Drone strike on Russian bot farm was false, but widely believed

Original: Drone Strikes Didn't Take Out Russian Bot Farm, but We Were Primed to Believe It

Ukraine's drone strike on Yandex offices in October 2026 was followed by viral claims that the attack had destroyed a Russian bot farm linked to pro-Trump, AfD and Reform UK influence operations. The claims turned out to be false, but spread rapidly because audiences were already primed to believe narratives about Russian disinformation networks, a Mother Jones analysis finds.

Why now: The story examines why a false claim about a drone strike destroying a Russian influence-operation hub went viral so quickly.

YandexUkraineMother JonesAfDReform UK

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