Social media has less "hate" after strikes on Yandex servers

A series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centers led to a sharp reduction in toxic fake accounts on social media. Analysts recorded a drop in online activity supporting AfD and MAGA. The attacks knocked out six of the company's eight main data centers, causing a massive service outage in Russia and the CIS.

A series of precision strikes by Ukrainian drones on key Russian IT infrastructure facilities led to an unexpected side effect: a sharp reduction in toxic fake accounts on social media that were stoking discord between Ukrainians and Poles. Analysts also recorded a sharp drop in online activity supporting the German AfD party and the American MAGA movement. According to Cloudflare, after the attacks, the volume of HTTP requests from the Yandex network fell to 0.4% of the standard maximum. The escalation began on October 8 with a strike on a 12 MW data center in Sasovo. On October 9, a 63 MW complex in Kaluga was attacked. The most powerful strike came on the night of October 11, targeting two data centers in Vladimir with a combined capacity of 80 MW, which completely shut down due to a fire. Of the six main data centers, only two remained operational—in Mytishchi and Ivanteyevka. American activist Laura Loomer claimed that the destroyed data centers played a key role in the Russian information war. The server shutdown caused a collapse of over 80 services in Russia and the CIS, including Yandex Taxi, Yandex Food, the Mercury system, and the game War Thunder.