Russia is hacking its way onto social media platform Bluesky to spread disinformation, company says [View all]

Source: The Independent

Thursday 21 May 2026 19:59 EDT


Russian hackers hijacked hundreds of online accounts on the Bluesky social media platform and used them to post phony news reports aimed at eroding public support for Ukraine amid Russia's ongoing, four-year war there.

As many as 2,000 posts have been removed by Bluesky since they began showing up in waves in April in an apparent escalation of Russian efforts to spread disinformation online, The New York Times said Thursday, citing the company and Clemson University researchers.

A director of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub told the newspaper that the Russians were “clearly still experimenting” after years of relying on fake accounts with fictitious content. "They're always experimenting," Darren Linvill said. The Clemson researchers and a group of internet monitors called the dTeam have linked the posts to the Social Design Agency, a company based in Moscow.

The Independent has reached out to Bluesky for comment, but the company told The Times it was an "industrywide problem," adding, "We dedicate significant resources toward detecting and disrupting coordinated inauthentic campaigns."

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/tech/russia-hacking-disinformation-bluesky-social-media-b2981455.html