January 31, 2025 | Policy Brief
Russian Malign Influence Campaigns Expand Onto Bluesky
January 31, 2025 | Policy Brief
Russian Malign Influence Campaigns Expand Onto Bluesky
The Russian influence operation known as Doppelganger has expanded onto the social media platform Bluesky to spread anti-Ukraine and antisemitic messages, according to a report released by Alliance4Europe on January 27.
This activity, alongside a slate of other Russian malign influence campaigns emerging on Bluesky over the past few months, indicates that Moscow, which has historically used alternative platforms to reach right-wing audiences, has begun using a similar tactic to target the other side of the aisle. Bluesky is known for hosting an exodus of liberal users from X.
What is Doppelganger?
Doppelganger started in 2022 and has targeted audiences across the United States, Europe, and Israel, seeking to undermine support for Ukraine, promote Kremlin-aligned interests, and influence elections. Doppelganger launched its first social media campaigns on Facebook and X. In September 2024, the U.S. government took down many of its websites and sanctioned its operators.
Alliance4Europe’s report provides the first documented instance of Doppelganger on Bluesky. While the operation posted on Bluesky in English and multiple other languages, the report focused on its German activity in advance of the upcoming German elections. Doppelganger’s German-language content implied Germany only supported Israel and Ukraine because their presidents are Jewish, shared degrading messages about Ukranian women, and criticized German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A Wave of Russian Malign Influence Strikes Bluesky
Doppelganger’s Bluesky debut comes amid a broader wave of Russian influence operations on the platform, including operations known as Matryoshka and Portal Kombat. Matryoshka’s expansion to Bluesky, first reported in December 2024, has used artificial intelligence to imitate the voices of professors associated with leading institutions to lend false authority to the operation’s anti-Ukrainian messages. A lead researcher from VIGINUM, the French government agency specializing in identifying foreign malign influence campaigns, also identified Bluesky accounts associated with Portal Kombat. Portal Kombat spans websites that aggregate content from various overt and covert Russian propaganda outlets.
FDD, together with Alliance4Europe, looked further into Russian propaganda’s penetration of Bluesky and found accounts associated with the Russian state media outlet RT. FDD and Alliance4Europe also found Bluesky accounts associated with pro-Kremlin shows such as Going Underground, which describes itself as independent but broadcasts on RT, and ¡Ahí les va!, a Spanish-language program that may at first appear unaffiliated with RT but bears RT’s logo on its primary website. All these accounts first appeared on Bluesky between September 2024 and January 2025.
Smaller Social Media Platforms Are Target-Rich, Defense-Poor
Smaller social media platforms like Bluesky provide America’s adversaries an opportunity to target more specific demographics than on larger platforms such as Facebook and X. At the same time, smaller platforms likely lack the internal resources large platforms possess to counter malign influence campaigns. This combination of factors renders smaller platforms particularly vulnerable to exploitation by nation-states in their malign influence campaigns.
Bluesky should adopt official policies against Russian state media as Meta did in September 2024 in response to what it described as Russian state media’s “foreign interference activities.” However, Bluesky, which stated in November 2024 that it only had 20 full-time employees, will likely need help identifying threats on its platform. Independent researchers and the non-profit sector should continue to investigate campaigns and publicize findings about malign influence on Bluesky and other alternative platforms.
At the same time, the U.S. government can help by sharing threat intelligence on foreign malign influence with social media companies in a manner that respects constitutionally protected political speech. A 2024 report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General found that the DOJ and FBI did share threat intelligence with social media companies in a way that respected constitutional protections. However, the report added that DOJ lacked a “comprehensive strategy guiding its approach to engagement with social media.” Forming this comprehensive strategy, and making sure to include smaller, alternative platforms like Bluesky in it, would help counter foreign malign influence on these platforms that targets Americans and America’s allies.
Max Lesser is the senior analyst on emerging threats at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Saman Nazari is the lead researcher at Alliance4Europe, where he focuses on Chinese and Russian influence operations, developing the DISARM Framework, and coordinating the Counter Disinformation Network. For more analysis from the authors, CCTI, and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD and CCTI on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.