In 2024, bots left a record number of comments on "VKontakte" — more than 42 million, according to the data from the "Botnadzor" project. In 2023, bots left 37 million comments, in 2022 — 26.7 million comments, in 2021 — 16.5 million, in 2020 — about 10 million.
Last year, the total number of bots significantly decreased compared to 2023 — from 166 to 141 thousand, analyzed "Verstka"* data from "Botnadzor". This decline may be related to the refusal to create new bot accounts, bot farm managers prefer not to create new pages, but to use existing ones for years, says the founder of "Botnadzor".
As "Verstka" writes, the most popular among bots on VK in 2024 was a February post in the "Tsargrad" channel group with a broadcast of Vladimir Putin's address to the Federal Assembly, only a post with advertising snacks from the "Doshirak" manufacturer could compete with it in bot activity.
And the narratives have changed: to the usual statements about Putin's greatness and enemies in the West this year were added peace negotiations with Ukraine and advice for Russians to earn more.
The need for peace negotiations with Ukraine was mentioned by pro-government bots in half of all topics. They published calls for peace under posts about the terrorist attack in "Crocus", purges in the Ministry of Defense, battles in the Kursk region, Trump's victory, nuclear threat, and the "Oreshnik" missile.
Calls for concluding peace agreements became part of a new strategy of bots, transmitting the sentiments of Russian authorities.
A new narrative also spread across various topics — attempts to convince people to solve their economic problems independently. Most often, bots referred to it in posts about the ban on childfree propaganda, noting that if someone cannot afford to support children, then this person simply needs to change jobs, not rely on state support.
As "Verstka" writes, the topic of the futility of sanctions did not go unnoticed by bots — it became one of the frequently mentioned. It was discussed in posts about Navalny's death, publications about the fall of Assad's regime, the threat of nuclear weapons, and others.
* Recognized in Russia as "foreign agent".