According to Newsguard data, an internet plugin to track disinformation, the Russian group-a well-known Microsoft threat analysis center as Storm-1679 from at least 2022-uses loud events to pumping fabricated content from various mediaincluding ABC News, BBC, and recently Politico.
This year, the group focused on flooding the internet with false content related to German accelerated choices and the upcoming vote in Moldova. The campaign was also aimed at disseminating false information about the war in Ukraine Before the Friday meeting of President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
McKenzie Sadeghi, an editor for artificial intelligence and foreign influence in Newsguard, says that from the beginning of 2024 a group He massively publishes “ProKremlin content in the form of videos” imitating known titles. – Even if during the year only one or several of their false films become vires, the production of all others will pay off – he assesses.
Storm of Putinian fakes on the internet
While Russian influence operations on the Internet have existed for many years, security experts say that Artificial intelligence makes it difficult for people to distinguish what is true.
Continued article under video material
According to the Microsoft threat analysis center, in 2024, Storm-1679 developed a technique of combining films with sounds generated by artificial intelligence impersonating the voices of celebrities and experts.
One of the loud examples of this tactic appeared before the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and embraced False documentary series with the Netflix logo and a voice allegedly generated by artificial intelligence belonging to Tom Cruise as a narrator. In December 2024, the group used these tools to generate false films impersonating trusted sources, such as journalists, professors and law enforcement agencies to sow a grain of distrust of NATO and Ukraine member states.
“They just throw spaghetti, trying to see what will stick to the wall,” says Ivana Stradner, Russian researcher at the Washington Think Tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Sadeghi explains that “a sense of time and information cycle” – events such as elections, sports competitions or wars – play a big role in Storm-1679 operations. “Usually, he tends to suddenly grow and launch a wave of fakes around a specific information event,” he explains.
“If they are on it, why should we expect someone else to get to it?”
While most of these films rarely gain popularity and are quickly questioned, This content from time to time gain momentum. In February, the Russian group stood behind the fabricated film allegedly produced by E! News according to which the American International Development Agency (USAID) paid celebrities for a visit to Ukraine after Russia's invasion on a full -scale in 2022.
The video, which contained the logo of the entertainment television station, eventually turned out to be false – but Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk They managed to share a lying report with millions watching them on platform x.
– It is problematic, because if they do it, why should we expect someone else to get to it? – Stradner is afraid.
After the posts were made available by Trump Jr. And Muska, e! News informed the Reuters agency that the video is not authentic and does not come from them. The BBC spokesman said that the sender is aware that Storm-1679 “impersonates BBC News and our journalists”, adding that the BBC advises people to “check, whether all content impersonating BBC journalism is on the BBC News platform“
Russian hackers. Illustrative photoDC Studio / Shutterstock
As these disinformation efforts become bigger and the tools of artificial intelligence still develop, The Trump administration limits the federal government agencies, whose task is to fight disinformation.
At the beginning of this year, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio closed the key office of the department fighting foreign disinformation campaigns. Rubio accused the Office of the State Department for Counteracting Foreign Information Manipulation and Disturbance – previously known as the Center of Global Commitment – for issuing “Millions of dollars for active silence and censorship of the voices of Americans they were to serve”.
In the Internal Security Department, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) also She suspended efforts to combat in the country of disinformation related to US elections. “Washington's decision to reduce efforts in the field of information operations is Putin's dreams,” says Stradner.
The spokesmen of the State and Cisa Department did not respond to requests for comment.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
