OpenAI blocked five state-backed disinformation campaigns using ChatGPT for fake news targeting multiple countries, including Russia’s 'Bad Grammar' on Telegram and China's 'Spamouflage'.

Cyber & Information WarfareInformation OperationsPropaganda & disinformation campaigns

Aggressor

Summary

OpenAI reports it has disrupted five state-supported disinformation campaigns in the last three months that attempted to misuse ChatGPT's AI capabilities to produce fake news content, comments, articles, and profiles targeting various countries. These campaigns originated from Russia, China, Iran, and the Israeli trading company STOIC. Notably, a Russian campaign dubbed 'Bad Grammar' generated political comments in English and Russian on Telegram aimed at Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic states, and the US. The Russian 'Doppelgänger' network used the AI to post multilingual comments on platforms like X. OpenAI also dismantled the Chinese operation 'Spamouflage' that used AI tools to scrape online networks and generate multilingual texts. Despite these efforts, the fabricated content showed limited reach. The campaigns pose a potential threat to election integrity in the EU and other regions, as AI tools could be leveraged to mass-produce persuasive disinformation content rapidly in multiple languages. OpenAI emphasizes collaboration with intelligence agencies and incorporated technical safeguards have helped block misuse.

Classification

Confidence: High

The reported use of AI-generated disinformation campaigns by state-supported actors aiming to influence political opinions and elections constitutes hostile hybrid activity in cyberspace targeting multiple nations including European Union members.

Source URL

https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/openai-ki-desinformation-100.html

Open source

Provenance

Publisher: extension
Submitted: Apr 28, 2026, 13:25 UTC
Last updated: Nov 8, 2026, 19:27 UTC
Event time: May 31, 2024, 07:30 UTC

Published as a hybrid-warfare signal with a public source and reviewer-approved assessment bands. See the methodology for how records are assessed.

Raw record

{
  "id": "2a2aec7b-fd2f-4f34-a387-0b2427027f47",
  "url": "https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/openai-ki-desinformation-100.html",
  "source": "extension",
  "status": "approved",
  "category": "Cyber & Information Warfare",
  "subcategory": "Information Operations",
  "incident_type": "Propaganda & disinformation campaigns",
  "country": "Unknown",
  "source_reliability": "C",
  "info_credibility": "3",
  "tags": [
    "OpenAI",
    "ChatGPT",
    "Disinformation",
    "Russia",
    "China",
    "Iran",
    "offensive cyber operations",
    "Election manipulation",
    "Hybrid warfare"
  ],
  "nodes": [],
  "countries": [],
  "where_text": "Cyberspace",
  "headline": null,
  "description": "OpenAI reports it has disrupted five state-supported disinformation campaigns in the last three months that attempted to misuse ChatGPT's AI capabilities to produce fake news content, comments, articles, and profiles targeting various countries. These campaigns originated from Russia, China, Iran, and the Israeli trading company STOIC. Notably, a Russian campaign dubbed 'Bad Grammar' generated political comments in English and Russian on Telegram aimed at Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic states, and the US. The Russian 'Doppelgänger' network used the AI to post multilingual comments on platforms like X. OpenAI also dismantled the Chinese operation 'Spamouflage' that used AI tools to scrape online networks and generate multilingual texts. Despite these efforts, the fabricated content showed limited reach. The campaigns pose a potential threat to election integrity in the EU and other regions, as AI tools could be leveraged to mass-produce persuasive disinformation content rapidly in multiple languages. OpenAI emphasizes collaboration with intelligence agencies and incorporated technical safeguards have helped block misuse.",
  "summary_short": "OpenAI blocked five state-backed disinformation campaigns using ChatGPT for fake news targeting multiple countries, including Russia’s 'Bad Grammar' on Telegram and China's 'Spamouflage'.",
  "summary_extended": null,
  "actor_primary": "Russian 'Bad Grammar' campaign",
  "target_primary": null,
  "location_text": "Cyberspace",
  "location_region": "Cyberspace",
  "location_coordinates_lat": null,
  "location_coordinates_lon": null,
  "location_precision": "Unknown",
  "is_aggressor_signal": true,
  "signal_type": "HYBRID_SIGNAL",
  "is_hybrid_war_signal": true,
  "classification_complete": true,
  "hybrid_signal_complete": true,
  "classification_confidence": "High",
  "classification_rationale": "The reported use of AI-generated disinformation campaigns by state-supported actors aiming to influence political opinions and elections constitutes hostile hybrid activity in cyberspace targeting multiple nations including European Union members.",
  "event_time_utc": "2024-05-31T07:30:00.000Z",
  "end_time_utc": null,
  "event_time_confidence": "pm24h",
  "created_at": "2026-04-28T13:25:35.865Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T19:27:23.549Z",
  "reliability_band": "strong",
  "location_precision_band": "unknown",
  "time_precision_band": "within_24h",
  "severity_band": "moderate",
  "attribution_confidence_band": "high",
  "attribution_basis": "single_source"
}

Public assessmentReliability: StrongSeverity: ModerateAttribution: HighSingle sourceTime: Same dayLocation: Unknown

Source reliability

Info credibility

Event time

May 31, 2024, 07:30 UTC

Event time confidence

pm24h

Location

Cyberspace

Region

Cyberspace

Primary actor

Russian 'Bad Grammar' campaign

Country

Unknown

Tags

OpenAI, ChatGPT, Disinformation, Russia, China, Iran, offensive cyber operations, Election manipulation, Hybrid warfare

Loading signal...

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