Anthropic’s report uncovers AI-powered propaganda, political manipulation in 4 African countries

Anthropic’s latest threat intelligence report has detailed how its Claude AI models were used in propaganda, political manipulation and mass surveillance operations involving four African countries. The cases, involving the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), show how AI was integrated into activities ranging from Russian-backed information operations and political astroturfing to the development of a surveillance platform designed to monitor about 25 million SIM cards. Published on September 10, the report covers malicious activity that Anthropic identified and disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026. It includes cases involving suspected state-sponsored groups, politically motivated individuals and commercial actors. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI-powered propaganda in Central African Republic In the Central African Republic, Anthropic removed an account operated by a Russian-speaking actor in Bangui who it said provided the production backbone for a Russian state-aligned foreign information manipulation and interference operation. The actor ran a daily content operation through Radio Lengo Songo, an FM station broadcasting on 98.9 FM, while coordinating with Russian state media outlets RT, Sputnik Afrique and TASS, as well as the Russian House in Bangui. Claude was used to generate stories containing pro-Russia, anti-France, pro-CAR government and pro-Wagner narratives, while the actor instructed the model to make the content appear like ordinary journalism rather than AI-generated material. Anthropic said its investigation linked the actor to Politology, the Africa Corps/Wagner influence branch that it assessed came under the control of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service in late 2023. The operation also used Claude for internal management, including generating employment contracts, job descriptions, staff scoring systems and recommendations on which employees should be retained or dismissed. The actor used the model for other political activities, including tracking CAR opposition figures, preparing talking points for Russian House officials and producing forged CAR government documents, including communications attributed to the Gendarmerie and Ministry of Defence. Also read: Central African Republic (CAR) inaugurates 50MW solar plant expected to boost power generation by 60% Claude refused one of the operation’s more aggressive requests to identify real people as militants in a way that could trigger security action. The actor instead changed the request to use anonymous sources. Anthropic classified the CAR operation as Category Four on the Brookings Institution’s Breakout Scale because the content was broadcast daily through Radio Lengo Songo and amplified through Telegram channels and local news outlets. Kenya’s AI-generated political astroturfing In Kenya, Anthropic identified and removed an account operated by a single actor who used Claude to mass-produce political content designed to look like spontaneous grassroots opinion. The actor generated batches of exactly 50 tweets, instructing Claude to make them appear spontaneous rather than part of a coordinated campaign.