OpenAI Disrupts Covert Influence Operation Targeting Ghana Election

OpenAI has banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts used to conduct a covert influence operation targeting the Ghanaian presidential election. The operation, linked to a commercial entity named DigitSol with offices in the UAE and Ghana, used AI-generated content to support Vice-President Mahumudu Bawumia and criticize former President John Mahama.

Operation Infrastructure and Actor

The influence operation was centered around a website, Empoweringghana[.]com, which falsely claimed to represent a youth initiative called "Empowering Ghana." This website served as a hub for a network of branded social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, and WhatsApp.

Investigation revealed that the website's contact information was fraudulent, listing a street address in Australia, an invalid phone number, and a link to a WordPress plugin provider, despite the content focusing exclusively on Ghanaian politics.

AI-Generated Content and Behavior

The operators used ChatGPT to generate a wide range of English-language content, from short four-word comments to lengthy news articles. This content was deployed across the network in the following ways:

  • Website Articles: ChatGPT was used to produce long-form articles for the Empoweringghana[.]com site.
  • Social Media Posts: The operation generated posts for the branded "Empowering Ghana" social media assets.
  • Fake Engagement: The operation used AI to generate sets of approximately 30 short comments praising specific policies of Vice-President Bawumia. A single social media account would then post all 30 comments in reply to a single "Empowering Ghana" post on Instagram or X to create an illusion of widespread support.

Impact Assessment

OpenAI assesses the impact of this operation as Category 2 on the Breakout Scale (activity on multiple platforms, but no evidence that real people widely shared the content). This assessment is based on several indicators of artificial inflation:

Artificial Engagement

While some Instagram posts appeared to have 30-32 comments, OpenAI identified that in some cases, all 30 comments were AI-generated and posted by a single account, suggesting authentic engagement was likely between 0-2 comments per post.

Inflated Follower Counts

The "Empowering Ghana" Instagram account claimed approximately 900,000 followers. However, Instagram's transparency settings showed that 54% (roughly 500,000) of those followers also followed a specific account focused on Australian legislation, indicating the followers were likely artificially inflated.

Organic Reach

In contrast, the X account had 1,535 followers and the YouTube channel had just over 1,500 subscribers as of January 16, 2025. Typical engagements on X were in the single or low double digits, and YouTube videos received double or low triple digit views. No evidence was found that the operation's content was amplified by mainstream media.

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