Russian content creators are massively using generative artificial intelligence to create propaganda songs that are then freely distributed on international streaming platforms. Analysts at Ukrainian OSINT organization Terrecon have identified nearly 1,000 such tracks, with a total of over 86.8 million streams.
Russian content creators are massively using generative artificial intelligence to create propaganda songs that are then freely distributed on international streaming platforms. Analysts at Ukrainian OSINT organization Terrecon have identified nearly 1,000 such tracks, with a total of over 86.8 million streams.
This was stated by CEO and co-founder of Terrecon Darya Verbytska in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
According to the study, the production of propaganda music in Russia has become an affordable commercial service. The cost of creating one track ranges from 999 to 30,000 rubles (approximately $11 to $330), and the production process takes from two hours to three days. To order, authors only need to provide a few abstracts, after which the text and music are generated by AI.
To test the market, Terrecon analysts approached 25 Russian authors and communities with fictional requests, including anti-Western tracks, glorification of the Russian army, and a song supporting the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. 15 performers agreed to the offer, treating it as a normal commercial assignment.
Despite creating its own content, the Russian market remains dependent on Western technologies. Due to the lack of full-fledged local analogues of Suno or Udio services, authors use Western platforms, bypassing sanctions with the help of local intermediaries.
At the same time, the moderation of international AI services and streaming services shows significant gaps. Testing showed that the Udio service generated a track with calls for violence against Ukrainians without any obstacles, and Suno missed a similar request in Russian, although it blocked its English-language version. The YouTube and SoundCloud platforms also published test propaganda tracks without proper content verification.
Previously, streaming service Spotify removed more than 50 million tracks from its recommendation algorithms over the past year, which it classified as low-quality music or AI-generated spam. The platform updated its algorithms to prioritize content from real artists.
