AI chatbots serve up content from Russia's sanctioned state-run outlets, RSF finds
Reporters Without Borders tested six AI chatbots by requesting news from RT, Sputnik, and other EU-sanctioned Russian outlets, and found that three produced full summaries with links and quotes, sometimes after encountering web pages explicitly stating the outlets were under sanctions.
A new study by Reporters Without Borders reveals that popular AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok, have been sharing news summaries from Russia's sanctioned state-run media outlets like RT and Sputnik. The investigation tested six AI chatbots by requesting news from a list of banned Russian outlets: RIA Novosti, RT, Rossiya 24, Sputnik, and the Strategic Culture Foundation.
Despite being explicitly told that these outlets were under EU sanctions, the chatbots provided full news round-ups, including headlines, links, and quotes from the banned sources.
The study's lead researcher, Vincent Berthier, expressed surprise at the results, as he had initially believed that the chatbots would have built-in safeguards against this issue. ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok produced content from the sanctioned outlets, sometimes even warning users that the content came from blocked sources. However, this warning was not always present in the final output.
The EU imposed sanctions on RT and Sputnik in March 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions aim to prevent Russian propaganda from justifying the war. The ban has been inconsistently applied across European countries, with some, like Germany, blocking access to the English version of RT, while others, like Austria, have no restrictions.
Berthier emphasized that many Europeans are unaware of the EU sanctions on Russian state media and their scope. RSF has filed a complaint with national competent authorities and forwarded its findings to the European Commission. The Commission has stated that EU sanctions law prohibits not only direct broadcasting but also situations where operators ensure, facilitate, or contribute to broadcasting.
However, Berthier believes that the AI Act's current framework is inadequate for addressing this issue, as it does not cover systems that distribute and structure information.
RSF has called for conversational AI agents to be regulated as information distribution tools rather than neutral utilities. The organization argues that without recognizing the role of chatbots as new media formats, the application of sanctions will remain formal and ineffective.
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