How disinformation from a Russian AI spam farm ended up on top of Google search results

image via Ars Technica

July 10, 2024, 11:10 AM

• •A fake story about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife buying a Bugatti car with American aid money traveled at warp speed across the internet.
• •The story originated from an unknown French website and quickly became a trending topic on X and the top result on Google.
• •The story was picked up by pro-Kremlin media outlets, Telegram channels, and social media accounts, and was eventually reported on by English-language websites.

A fake story about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife buying a Bugatti car with American aid money quickly spread across the internet. The story originated from an unknown French website and was picked up by Russian media outlets, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, and pro-Trump troll Jackson Hinkle. It was then republished by English-language websites, including MSN.

Read original article