OpenAI Bans Two Covert Influence Operations Using False Fronts

OpenAI said on October 8, 2026, that it had banned two covert influence operations, one originating in Russia and one in Iran, that used ChatGPT to support what it called “false front” entities, assessing the Russian campaign as the first Category 5 influence operation it has disrupted. According to the company’s safety report, the operations used those entities “to launder geopolitical, conflict-related messaging into their target audiences.” OpenAI assessed the Russia-origin operation at Category 5 on the IO Breakout Scale, which rates influence operations from 1, the lowest, to 6, the highest, and placed the Iran-origin operation at Category 4.

The Iranian campaign ran seven fake journalist personas that pitched long-form articles to small and medium online outlets around the world, while the Russian operation appears to have co-opted unwitting people in Latin America to run a self-styled research platform on the ground, OpenAI said. OpenAI said it has exposed 30 covert influence operations over the past two and a half years, and that operations landing their content in real media outlets rather than relying on fake social media distribution…