The AI provider Anthropic has documented a disturbing wave of abuse by autocratic regimes over the past eight months. In a 154-page report on emerging threats, the company reveals that state and state-sponsored actors are systematically deploying its Claude system for propaganda, disinformation, and mass surveillance—aimed at entrenching their rule and silencing dissent.
Key Facts
- Anthropic shut down numerous campaigns across Africa, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Europe using Claude for disinformation and surveillance
- In Mali, a state intelligence consultant built a mass surveillance system with Claude that illegally monitored 25 million SIM cards
- In the Central African Republic, a Russian-backed operator ran an influence operation spreading pro-Moscow propaganda via a radio station
- Operations included fake social media profiles, fabricated news sites, and forged government documents
Networks of Deception
One of the most common tactics: Anthropic found cases where Claude was used to create "networks of fake social media profiles and entire news sites." These platforms were then filled with deceptive content while the true operators remained completely hidden.
"The accounts are not real and the opinions are not genuinely held. Nothing on the surface identifies who's actually behind this effort."
Hundreds of social media accounts, appearing to belong to ordinary citizens, were deployed to amplify political narratives. A network of lies scaled up by AI in ways that would be nearly impossible without such tools.
Mali: Illegal Mass Surveillance at Scale
Particularly alarming is the Mali case. A consultant for the state intelligence service used Claude as the "primary engineering workforce" to develop a mass surveillance system. This system illegally spied on millions of people across 25 million SIM cards on all three of Mali's national mobile operators.
The system collected text messages, voice calls, and other data, then used Claude to generate intelligence dossiers on targets. Most troubling: according to the Anthropic report, the system was designed to circumvent Mali's laws requiring court orders for surveillance operations.
Russian Influence Operation in Central Africa
In the Central African Republic, Anthropic discovered a Russia-directed operation. A Russian-backed operator used Claude for an extensive political and media influence campaign—in a country already backed by thousands of Russian troops.
The operation included daily content for a Russian-founded radio station in Bangui, the capital. Claude was instructed to embed pro-Moscow and anti-France talking points into radio stories. The operator was linked to Politology, an agency controlled by Russia's foreign intelligence service.
"This was a Russian state-directed covert operation built to manipulate and interfere with the Central African Republic's information space. The operation was entirely foreign-run but carefully engineered to appear as though it originated from Bangui."
The same operator used Claude to conduct surveillance on opposition politicians and forge government documents.
Implications for European Security
Anthropics findings reveal a pattern: autocratic regimes are weaponizing Western AI systems against their own populations and democratic processes. For German and European companies, this creates a dual challenge. First, AI providers must better protect their systems against state-actor abuse—Anthropic stopped these campaigns, but only after months. Second, the question arises of how strictly the EU will enforce its AI regulations when abuse involves authoritarian partners. These findings are likely to gain weight in German security debates.
Sources
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