Iran and China Deploy Autonomous AI Social Media Influence Bots

U.S. officials and security researchers revealed that state-backed actors from Iran and China utilized open-source AI models to deploy autonomous agent bots for social media influence campaigns.

The AI-driven agents independently created networks of fake accounts across major platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok to spread political false narratives.

An Iranian state-backed campaign targeted U.S. audiences with nearly 80,000 followers, while two other agentic campaigns were traced to private companies in Israel.