🤖 FBI busts Russian ‘social media bot farm’ spreading fake news in US, EVs give power back to grid during outage, Europe launches Ariane 6

INTERESTING ENGINEERING SHOP

The United States and its allies announced that they have succeeded in seizing control of a Russia-owned artificial intelligence (AI) driven social media bot farm that used to peddle propaganda on platforms like X.

The Justice Department of the US said it had seized two domain names and 968 social media accounts used by Russian actors that spread disinformation in the United States and abroad.

According to the Justice Department’s press release, the bot farm was developed by Russia’s state-run RT News Network and operated by Moscow’s Federal Security Service (FSS) using AI. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

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MUST READ

🤖 FBI busts Russian ‘social media bot farm’ spreading fake news in US

The agencies involved in the operation released a joint advisory aimed at raising awareness of the propaganda mill’s modus operandi and intentions.

According to the advisory, the Russian state-sponsored actors used the covert Meliorator software for foreign malign influence activity aimed at benefiting Moscow.

The actors obtained and controlled two domain names from a U.S.-based provider. They then used those domains to create the email servers that ultimately allowed them to create fictitious social media accounts using the bot farm software.

⚡️ World-first: EVs give power back to grid during outage in Australia

The development of electric vehicles was primarily driven by the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and lower the impact of climate change. However, a major benefit of EVs was unexplored until a fleet of electric cars supplied power to the grid during a blackout in Canberra.

The power supply to tens of thousands of homes was interrupted during a major storm in Canberra. The power was supplied from vehicles’ batteries.

“It’s the first time in the world this type of vehicle-to-grid response to an emergency has been demonstrated,” said lead author of the study, Senior Research Fellow Dr Bjorn Sturmberg from the Australian National University.

🚀 Europe returns to space with the successful launch of the Ariane 6 heavy-lift rocket

Europe’s newest rocket, the heavy-lift Ariane 6, successfully lifted off on Tuesday from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, adding a vital new launch vehicle in a booming space industry.

Ariane 6 is an entirely new rocket rocket for Europe, featuring a modular design that can carry out missions to either low-Earth orbit or deeper into outer space.

“A completely new rocket is not launched often, and success is far from guaranteed,” said ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher in an Arianespace statement. “I am privileged to have witnessed this historic moment when Europe’s new generation of the Ariane family lifted off – successfully – effectively reinstating European access to space.”

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