It took the Russians a while to get around to it, but they’ve finally begun running their disinformation operations on social media platform BlueSky.
On January 17, 2025, over 100 German-language accounts associated with the Russian influence operation known as Doppelgänger became active on BlueSky, a rapidly growing social media platform which had yet been a relatively safe refuge for those seeking a haven from the Russian bot factories, troll farms and paid influencers. These accounts engaged by replying to posts from authentic users, disseminating narratives aimed at discrediting Ukraine and Germany’s traffic light coalition. They also propagated polarizing content and gender-based hate speech targeting Ukrainian women. Between January 17 and 24, these accounts published more than 4,900 posts, though they garnered minimal engagement. Doppelgänger’s tactics on BlueSky included mass account creation, inauthentic commenting, adopting local personas, and concealing Russian sponsorship. Identifying these behavioral patterns is crucial for tracking and mitigating such operations.
Doppelgänger, orchestrated by the Russian government IT and PR firm Social Design Agency, has a history of influence operations on platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). A September 2024 report by Alliance4Europe detailed Doppelgänger’s activities on these platforms, highlighting its recognizable behavioral patterns. The operation typically involves creating numerous accounts that post fabricated content, often mimicking legitimate media outlets, to disseminate disinformation.
BlueSky, experiencing significant growth from 12 million users in October 2024 to nearly 28 million by January 2025, has become a new target for such influence operations.
Running at stark contrast to the X platform’s relationship to Russian disinformation campaigns, BlueSky has responded by removing approximately 70% of the identified malicious accounts within three days of their activation. Despite these efforts, Doppelgänger’s tactics have evolved. Initially, the operation utilized a large number of accounts, each posting infrequently. Recently, there has been a shift towards fewer accounts with higher posting frequencies. For instance, two identified accounts collectively made over 4,300 posts in less than five days. Another account posted 120 times in under four hours after reactivation, transitioning from English to German-language content.
The narratives propagated by these accounts are consistent with previous Doppelgänger activities. They aim to undermine support for Ukraine, sow discord within German politics, and incite gender-based animosity. The operation employs tactics such as bulk account creation, inauthentic commenting, and the use of local personas to enhance credibility.
With Russian operations on the platform still in their early stages, moderation is likely still quite manageable, but as things scale, its an open question whether we will see the same inundation and swaying of narratives as we’ve seen across other platforms.