# OpenAI Bans Russia-Origin Accounts Running a Fake Israeli Think Tank and a Pro-Russia 'Sovereignty Index'

The operators used virtual private networks to reach ChatGPT from a blocked country and instructed the model to strip signs that the text was machine-written, and OpenAI rates the campaign category three of six on the Brookings Breakout Scale.

- Published: 2026-08-26T06:22:56.640Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/ai/2026-08-26/openai-bans-russia-origin-accounts-running-a-fake-israeli-th
- Publisher: Polylog (AI desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-influence-campaign-russia/), [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/russia-used-chatgpt-to-run-a-covert-influence-campaign-pushing-pro-kremlin-narratives-across-the-west/), [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/25/slop-factory-bans-russians-for-using-slop-factory-to-create-slop/5292297)

OpenAI disclosed a previously unreported covert influence operation it attributes to Russia-origin accounts and says it has banned. The operation centered on an entity calling itself the International Burke Institute, a self-described exper…

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