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Russia is posting disinformation on BlueSky to boost the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, European media outlets have claimed.
Outlets from both France and Germany have repeated claims made by the anonymous activist group Antibot4Navalny that Moscow is running secret online operations aimed at boosting the party.
According to a report by the AFP, the activists are confident that there are efforts to boost the party on BlueSky masterminded by the Kremlin, though they admit they have no solid evidence for such a claim.
The group claims there is “no other plausible explanation” for allegedly fake content being uploaded to the left-liberal social media site.
Politicians inside Germany have backed the claims, attacking the AfD for being too pro-Russian in the run-up to two major state-level elections in the country.
Set for September, polling indicates that the AfD will win both upcoming ballots by a comfortable margin.
“One thing is certain: the AfD is Putin’s mouthpiece in Germany,” a representative from the ruling Christian Democratic Union — which is seeing many of its voters defect to the AfD — said regarding the disinformation claims.
A member of the country’s Green Party meanwhile insisted that the AfD were deliberately “re-broadcasting” alleged “narratives” pushed by Moscow to boost their popularity.
Claims that the Russians are using BlueSky to boost the AfD run contrary to past events.
Founded in direct response to Elon Musk’s purchase of X — then Twitter — BlueSky has always operated an aggressive moderation policy aimed at reducing the amount of “misinformation”, “disinformation” and other “hateful content” on the platform.
The platform is largely perceived as leaning hard to the liberal-left, with conservative and right-wing commentators claiming that they have a hard time keeping their content published on the platform.
BlueSky has also been heavily criticised for allowing or insufficiently moderating death threats and calls to violence issued by left-leaning individuals.
The site made headlines in 2025 over user reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk, with many on the platform appearing to mock the political pundit’s assassination while encouraging political violence against right-wingers.
Moderators on the platform were forced to issue warnings against such content, saying that it was against the platform’s terms of service.
“Glorifying violence or harm violates Bluesky’s Community Guidelines. We review reports and take action on content that celebrates harm against anyone,” they said.
“Violence has no place in healthy public discourse, and we’re committed to fostering healthy, open conversations.”
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