Bluesky has removed approximately 2,000 posts that were identified as part of a disinformation campaign attributed to Russian hackers who compromised numerous accounts on the platform. This surge in false information, which began surfacing in April, has raised concerns about the ongoing efforts to undermine support for Ukraine amid the four-year conflict with Russia.
The campaign has been linked to the Social Design Agency, a Moscow-based organization, as per research from Clemson University and monitoring group dTeam. Researchers noted that the hackers targeted prominent users, including journalists and public figures, to disseminate misleading content. One incident involved a hacked account posting a manipulated video that misrepresented a Canadian official's comments about French President Emmanuel Macron.
Despite Bluesky's acknowledgment of the issue as an "industrywide problem" and their commitment to combatting coordinated disinformation, the Social Design Agency has not responded to inquiries. Some affected users, like reporter Pamela Wood, discovered the breach when their accounts were locked after unauthorized activity.