Yandex Services Begin to Return After Drone Strikes on Data Centers

Does the drop in Yandex bot traffic expose Kremlin-backed manipulation or a lack of digital technical knowledge?

Published 3 hours ago

Yandex Services Begin to Return After Drone Strikes on Data Centers

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Above: The Yandex logo taken on Sept. 29. Image credit: Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

The sudden calm online makes Yandex's role in Moscow's influence machine hard to dismiss. Kremlin-friendly bot networks have long distorted democratic debate while posing as homegrown populism. Disrupting adversarial infrastructure protects authentic political speech from foreign manipulation and exposes Russia's hybrid manipulation.

Chad Scott on X

Tomáš Zdechovský on X

Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X

Narrative B

A dip in Yandex bot traffic is no smoking gun for Kremlin propaganda. Conflating routine web crawling with social media manipulation is a basic technical mistake that exposes a host of "digital" experts on social media. If Russia is waging information warfare, strikes against Yandex data centers will play little part in its suppression.

Anonymous on X

Bot Blocker on X