Anthropic said that in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, its AI assistant Claude was allegedly used to promote pro-Russian influence, create propaganda content and support disinformation campaigns. Deutsche Welle reports that this is stated in Anthropic’s Detecting and Countering Misuse of AI report, published in September.
Propaganda and opposition
According to Anthropic, likely Russian agents used Claude primarily to prepare content broadcast by the Radio Lengo Songo station. The international investigative collective All Eyes on Wagner reports that the station is funded by Russia.
The report states that the materials portrayed the CAR government and Africa Corps mercenaries positively, while criticizing France and the opposition. Claude was also allegedly asked to portray opposition figures as armed militants in order to prompt security forces to act against them. Anthropic said the model refused to fulfill such a request.
All Eyes on Wagner representative Lou Osborne said that similar methods had already been used in the CAR in connection with the activities of the Wagner Group and structures affiliated with it. Martin Ziguélé, head of the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, told DW that campaigns against the opposition had been observed since 2020.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Other operations in Africa
Anthropic also reported the alleged use of Claude in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan and Mali. In the DRC, the company identified 318 articles that, according to its data, were published by a network of about 70 fake news websites. These materials were later distributed by more than 250 fictitious accounts on X. The content supported the positions of the Congolese authorities amid the conflict with Rwanda.
In Kenya, Claude allegedly generated batches of 50 messages supporting the government and targeting the opposition. In Sudan, according to Anthropic, the AI was used in an operation that the company links to individuals in the United Arab Emirates, including to create fabricated testimony for the UN.
In Mali, an adviser linked to the intelligence services allegedly used Claude to develop a telecommunications monitoring platform. According to the report, it was intended to track 25 million SIM cards and bypass the requirement to obtain judicial authorization. Anthropic said it detected and stopped these operations between December 2025 and August 2026, deleting the involved accounts and strengthening its systems for detecting violations. Dmitry Syty, a representative of the Russian mission of the aggressor state in the CAR, rejected the report, calling the allegations vague and unsupported by evidence.
Read us on
Download our app
