Anthropic Says Claude Was Used in Russian Influence Operations in Africa

Summary

An Anthropic report published in September says its Claude AI assistant was used in alleged pro-Russian influence operations in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan and Mali. In Bangui, the report says Claude helped produce propaganda for Radio Lengo Songo, a Russia-funded station according to the investigative collective All Eyes on Wagner, while also supporting efforts to monitor opposition politicians. The material reportedly presented the Central African government and Africa Corps positively and criticized France and the opposition. Anthropic says Claude refused a request to depict opposition figures as armed militants in order to provoke security forces, but the report did not identify the monitored politicians, explain exactly what data was collected, or say who received it. Opposition figures told DW that similar media campaigns and accusations of foreign ties had targeted them for years. A Russian representative in the Central African Republic rejected the allegations as vague and unsupported. Beyond CAR, Anthropic identified 318 articles from about 70 fake-news sites in the DRC, distributed through more than 250 fictitious X accounts; alleged Claude-generated batches of 50 pro-government messages in Kenya; fabricated UN witness statements in an operation attributed to people in the United Arab Emirates in Sudan; and a Mali telecommunications-monitoring platform reportedly designed to target 25 million SIM cards without judicial authorization. Anthropic says it shut down all of the operations between December 2025 and August 2026, mainly by deleting accounts and strengthening detection systems.