Microsoft tracks Russian election influence campaign shift to undermine Harris

[Nevilledog]

https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/disinformation-desk/microsoft-tracks-russian-election-influence-campaign-shift-to-undermine-harris


The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center released a new report on Tuesday that reveals a shift in Russia’s efforts to influence the U.S. elections from “denigrating President Biden to undermining the new Democratic nominee Vice President Harris.” MTAC observed a “synchronized shift” by three Russian influence operation actors – Storm-1516, Ruza Flood (also known as Doppelganger), and Storm-1679- towards undermining the current Vice President.

Russian actors apparently struggled to pivot their operations after President Biden bowed out of the race in July, but Microsoft tracked an uptick in “outlandish fake conspiracy theories” being spread by the Russian actor Storm-1516 by late August. For example, Microsoft points to two inauthentic videos that attack Harris and her campaign, each of which received millions of views online.

The first false video depicts an attack by alleged Harris supporters on a supposed Trump rally attendee. The second video used an even more sophisticated method to spread a false narrative about Harris: Russians created a fake “local San Francisco media outlet” and laundered the video through that fake publication. The video used an actor to state false claims that Harris paralyzed a girl during a 2011 hit-and-run accident.

In an accompanying blog post, Clint Watts, the general manager of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center describes the shift as “aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates.” He notes that the public should expect Russian actors to continue to use cyber proxies and hacktivist groups to amplify messages in the lead-up to the election, adding they’ll be spreading divisive political content, staged videos, and AI-enhanced propaganda.

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[GreenWave]

1. It's clobbering time!

[SheltieLover]

2. K&R