Do you support left-leaning causes? Russia's targeting you, too.

A network of 600+ automated X accounts produced over 245k posts spamming the environmental movement.

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Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the ASP newsletter on Substack! If you’ve been with us for a while, thanks for sticking around. You don’t need to do anything to keep receiving our updates. If you’re a new subscriber, thanks for joining us here.

I decided to move our newsletter to Substack to encourage organic discovery of our research and writing because this is a critical moment to stay informed. I have issues with how Substack runs its platform, so I now self-host my personal newsletter, but there is plenty of good, principled reporting left here. We’re hoping that we can be a part of that ecosystem, building community and informing people in service of our mission: increasing the cost of lies (some of which are hosted on this very platform!) that undermine democracy. Please write if you have questions, and thanks for reading. Now over to Ben to walk you through an exciting piece of new research!

-Nina

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Russia Targets the Environmental and Tech Sectors in Western Democracies

“Russian influence network targeting the environmental sector,” image generated by Microsoft Designer

In recent years, we’ve heard a lot about Russian disinformation targeting right-leaning audiences — from unwitting far-right influencers, to media personalities like Tucker Carlson, or even conservative Members of Congress. However, this narrative obscures a crucial reality: Russian influence operations systematically target groups across the entire political spectrum, including progressive movements, environmental causes, and the far-left, seeking to cause as much online discord and political division as possible. This sort of political polarization benefits Russia; when we’re busy yelling at each other, we’re less likely to pay attention to what the Kremlin is doing elsewhere in the world.

In our latest report, we uncover a new network of automated, Russian X accounts targeting the environmental and tech sectors across Western democracies. This network, which we call EcoBoost, mass-spams replies to international governing bodies, NGOs, and educational institutions, manufacturing false grassroots support for left-wing, pro-environmental causes. In total, it has posted more than 245,000 pieces of content since June 2024, ranging from innocuous pleas to install more solar panels in the southwestern US, to conspicuous calls to vote for the Green Party in the 2024 US election.

Put simply, in today’s political environment — in which the Trump administration seems to be adopting a number of blatantly pro-Russia policies — it might seem a bit odd to a layperson for Russia to be targeting the American left. To provide a bit of context for why EcoBoost makes for such a fascinating discovery, and why we assess it to be an important cog in the pro-Russian influence wheel, let’s take a trip down memory lane to 2016.

During and after the 2016 US election, Russian operatives didn't limit their focus to right-wing audiences. According to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, the Internet Research Agency (IRA) — Russia's notorious "troll farm" — created numerous social media accounts impersonating Black activists and Black Lives Matter supporters. These accounts gained hundreds of thousands of followers by posting genuine Black Lives Matter content, then gradually introduced divisive narratives designed to amplify racial tensions, discourage Black voter participation, and promote extremist viewpoints within legitimate civil rights movements.

One IRA-controlled Instagram account, "Blacktivist," actually outperformed the official Black Lives Matter account in engagement metrics during certain periods. These operations weren't necessarily designed to support either political party, but rather to exacerbate divisions and undermine democratic processes.

ASP has observed EcoBoost for almost eight months, and we’ve seen a similar pattern. By replying to legitimate content about the environment, climate change, AI, and technology, over time the EcoBoost network has been able to work in conspicuous, politically divisive, disinformative content designed to interfere in the US’ and other western countries’ democratic processes. This has included content amplifying Elon Musk and the Green Party, denigrating Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau, and even phony, personalized first-hand accounts of natural disasters.

Masquerading their malign intent with AI-generated profile imagery and seemingly-personalized replies on a range of issues, EcoBoost accounts have posted provocative content in five languages, and have purported to be locals in as many countries. Notably, this network mimics the operating tactics of other recently-discovered influence networks attributed to Russia, including the Matryoshka network. To this end, many EcoBoost accounts have accidentally posted both Russian-language characters and code snippets, indicating that a malign Russian-language entity, of still-unknown geographic origin, appears to be behind the network.

While the subject matter amplified by EcoBoost and its targeting of the left may be unexpected for some, the discovery of this kind of automated network operating for months on end, unabated, is not. Given the elimination of Trust and Safety teams across major social media platforms over the last two years, this network is — sadly — one which joins a long list of recently discovered Russian influence networks attempting to undermine our democracy. (We uncovered another X network before the election. Check it out.) This is why it is important for everyone to be vigilant and deliberate in their information consumption, and remember: If something you see online makes you angry, you’re probably being manipulated.