Phoenix company used by Russians to operate social media bot farm, feds say [Video]

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The U.S. Department of Justice reported it had disrupted a Russian misinformation campaign that used fake social media accounts to spread misinformation about the war in Ukraine.

In testimony to Congress, the FBI director alluded to the fact that the campaign also included misinformation about the coming U.S. election. A Phoenix-based web hosting company may have unwittingly contributed to the scheme.

“The Justice Department today announced the seizure of two domain names and the search of 968 social media accounts used by Russian actors to create an AI-enhanced social media bot farm that spread disinformation in the United States and abroad,” read a statement released by the Justice Department.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court in Phoenix, Russian agents, working through a fake address in Lithuania, acquired the domain names, “MLRTR.COM” and “OTANMAIL.COM” from Namecheap, Inc, a web hosting company based in Phoenix.

Namecheap officials did not respond …