The Yandex outage probably didn’t blitz Russian bots

<figure> <img alt="Person’s hands holding a phone screen with a trippy spiral background." data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/STKS536_AI_HALLUCINATION_C.png?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Multiple <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw0k0g57mk3zo">Ukrainian drone strikes</a> over the last week have taken Russian data centers offline and reportedly caused online bot traffic to plummet - but in reality it's probably not the kind of bot activity most people associate with Russia.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">A <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/russian-disinformation-bot-traffic-nearly-eliminated-overnight-after-ukraine-drone-strikes-cripple-multiple-of-russias-google-data-centers-ukraine-intensifies-bombing-of-yandex-data-centers-in-response-to-moscows-strikes-on-kyiv-data-centers">chart citing Cloudflare data</a> has been circulating around social media platforms, showing <a href="https://radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/as13238">a sharp decline</a> in bot traffic following attacks on Yandex servers - a technology company often described as "Russia's Google." While many people are inferring that the chart refers to bot farms that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/9/24195228/doj-bot-farm-rt-russian-government-namecheap">push disinformation</a>, conspiracy theories, and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/16/17021684/facebook-twitter-mueller-russia-troll-factory">other harmful content</a> across online platforms, reputed troll farm expose …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/1009594/russian-bots-yandex-outage-drone-strikes-debunk">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>