Hundreds of English-language websites link to pro-Kremlin propaganda

[groundloop]

Source: The Guardian



Hundreds of English-language websites – from mainstream news outlets to fringe blogs – are linking to articles from a pro-Kremlin network flooding the internet with disinformation, according to a study released by a London-based thinktank.

The study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that in more than 80% of citations it analysed, the websites treated the network as a credible source, legitimising its narratives and increasing its visibility. The disinformation operation – known as the Pravda network – was identified by the French government last year.

The ISD cautioned that by linking to articles in the network, the websites were inadvertently increasing the likelihood of search engines and large language models (LLMs) surfacing the pages, even in cases where the linking sites were disputing the Pravda network as a source.

Security experts have expressed fears in recent months that Russia is trying to seed chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini with pro-Russia narratives by feeding them large volumes of disinformation, a process called “LLM grooming”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/21/english-language-websites-link-pro-kremlin-russian-propaganda-pravda-network

[SheltieLover]

1. Kick

[70sEraVet]

2. So, it really IS "Russia, Russia, Russia"!!

[Bev54]

11. Russia, China, India and no doubt a few more.

[yardwork]

3. This is very bad.

A lot of local newspapers were sold to huge infotainment companies and no longer publish true local news. They use AI and Russian propaganda to fill their pages with swill and disinformation.

This is a key reason why so many rural communities vote Republican now. They don't know the truth about anything that's happening. They believe outrageously false things.

[groundloop]

4. And I firmly believe THIS had a major impact on Kamala's election results

We just weren't prepared to fight disinformation on such a huge scale (and still aren't).

[FakeNoose]

5. They read the garbage on their cellphones

... then they forward it to their "friends" who are all just as stupid.

[yardwork]

6. And racist. There's so much racism at the heart of it.

Any online interaction immediately goes to vile racism, constant disinformation about Obama.

It's truly vile.

[Ray Bruns]

7. In other news water is wet and the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.

Film at eleven

[Nigrum Cattus]

8. the repug's have taken our cyber people off these

online sites to help the drunk ruskies
musk's X has also allowed this BS to flourish
time to make propaganda illegal again

[erronis]

9. I'd bet that the AI slop engines have direct feeds from the pravda network.

No need to scrape websites, comrades. Come here to get your swill directly.

[progressoid]

10. Here's the study. Holy crap...

https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/link-by-link-hundreds-of-webpages-cite-pro-russia-pravda-network/

... Thirty-four sites that generate more than one million web visits per month linked to Pravda network articles as reliable sources. Articles which treated Pravda network links as legitimate sources appeared in news outlets such as The Atlantic, Politico, Forbes and the Denver Gazette, as well as on high-traffic commentary sites such as the Gateway Pundit and the Jacobin.

ISD also found popular sites providing decontextualized links to Pravda network articles. Fifteen sites with more than one million web visits a month referenced the Russian origins of the link without connecting it to an information operation. These included The Washington Post, Newsweek, Fortune and the Des Moines Register.

NewsGuard was the only site with more than a million monthly visits that provided a properly contextualized link to a Pravda network article. Other sites that provided this information were either think tanks or research institutes such as the Atlantic Council and the German Marshall Fund, as well as fact checkers.

The disparity in webpages that treat the Pravda network as legitimate compared to those that properly contextualize its content enables the network to operate with minimal scrutiny, limiting awareness of its bias and intent. ISD found that webpages with legitimizing links gained more than 22,000 engagements across Facebook, X, Reddit and Pinterest. By comparison, webpages that properly contextualized links were less popular, with roughly 9,500 engagements across those same platforms.
Pravda network links appear in every corner of the internet

ISD found that webpages from across the media landscape linked to the Pravda network, from reputable news outlets to personal blogs. However, more than 75 percent of all reviewed webpages belonged to “commentary” sites, which analysts defined broadly to categorize sites that primarily publish opinion, analysis or other forms of perspective (regardless of the size of the page or ideological leanings). Nearly 20 percent of webpages belonged to news outlets, fact checkers, academic institutions or non-profits. The remaining five percent of webpages belonged to Russian state-linked sites, such as RT....