Ukraine Drone Strike on Russian Data Center Disrupts Propaganda Networks
Translated & summarized from Israel Hayom by baba
Ukraine launched a drone attack on a major Yandex data center in Sasovo, Russia, causing a fire and widespread service disruptions. The strike has been linked to a significant decrease in Russian online propaganda, particularly anti-Israel content, and a surge in mentions of "Zelensky" on X. American host Tucker Carlson also saw a 70% drop in viewership following the attack. The data center is vital for Russia's AI development, and the damage has impacted various Russian services and Yandex's stock.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Ukraine drone strike on Yandex data center in Sasovo, Russia, caused significant disruptions.
- Anti-Israel slogans like "Free Palestine" and "genocide" usage on X dropped significantly post-attack.
- Mentions of "Zelensky" on X surged dramatically after the drone strike.
- Tucker Carlson's viewership decreased by 70% following the attack.
- The data center is critical for Russia's AI development, including YandexGPT.
- The attack led to service outages for Russian public transport, railways, and real estate portals.
A Ukrainian drone attack on a major Yandex data center in Sasovo, Russia, approximately 350 km southeast of Moscow, has reportedly crippled Russia's online propaganda machine. This marks the first significant strike on a Russian data and cloud facility since February 2022. The attack caused a fire, forcing Yandex to shut down tens of thousands of servers and leading to widespread disruptions in transportation, real estate, and commerce services across Russia.
Following the strike, there has been a dramatic decrease in the use of anti-Israel slogans on the social media platform X. According to real-time data monitored by X user Ohio Rob, the daily usage of "Free Palestine" dropped by about 50%, from 70,000 to 35,000 posts. Similarly, the term "genocide" saw a decline from a peak of 280,000 posts on October 7 to approximately 150,000 on October 11. Conversely, mentions of "Zelensky" surged from 30,000 to 260,000 during the same period.
American host Tucker Carlson, known for promoting antisemitic theories and anti-Israel narratives, also experienced a significant drop in viewership. His posts saw a 70% decrease in views, falling from an average of nearly one million before October 8 to about 300,000 afterward.
The Sasovo facility is one of Yandex's five largest data centers, crucial for its cloud infrastructure and AI development. It houses two of Yandex's most powerful supercomputers, used to train the Russian AI model YandexGPT. Yandex confirmed a power outage in one service area and urged customers to switch to alternative regions, but did not disclose the extent of damage to the supercomputers or their components. The company stated that the fire damaged some infrastructure and operations were temporarily suspended for repairs.
The attack has had tangible economic consequences, with Yandex's stock falling over 3% in the days following the incident. Various services, including Moscow's public transport online ticketing, Russian Railways, real estate portal Cian, and the Spartak Moscow football club website, reported outages and disruptions.
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