Welcome to this week’s edition of The Intelligence Brief… in the weeks leading up to the November U.S. election, Russian disinformation efforts have been on the rise. In our analysis this week, we’ll be looking at 1) recent revelations involving online groups linked to Russia and their dissemination of pro-Kremlin disinformation, 2) tactics leveraged by the Storm-1516 group against Western audiences, 3) the key role of AI and other technologies in these propagandistic efforts, and 4) the threats such disinformation pose, as well as how they can be combatted.
Quote of the Week
“Russia has meddled in our society and tried to sow discord for decades. Really what we’re seeing is just more tools in the toolbox.”
– U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland
Latest News: In recent news from The Debrief, for the first time, scientists have produced an eerie soundscape of a mysterious magnetic field reversal event that occurred on Earth 41,000 years ago. Also, scientists say lightning strikes may be releasing deadly high-energy “killer electrons” that can fry electronics and humans. You’ll find links to all our recent stories at the end of this week’s newsletter.
Podcasts: In podcasts this week, on the latest installment of The Debrief Weekly Report, Kenna and Stephanie discuss the reversal of Earth’s magnetic field 41,000 years ago, before touching on a robotic technology being developed in China. Meanwhile over on The Micah Hanks Program, this week we examine the latest purported UAP whistleblower claims involving “Immaculate Constellation,” an alleged U.S. unacknowledged special access program. You can find all our past episodes over on The Debrief’s Podcasts Page.
Video News: On the latest episode of Rebelliously Curious, Chrissy Newton is joined by Daniel Otis, a Canadian journalist who discusses his recent investigations into the shoot-down of an unidentified object in Canadian airspace last February. Be sure to check out other great content from The Debrief on our official YouTube Channel.
With that all behind us, it’s time to shift our focus over to the latest revelations involving Russian disinformation and the use of propaganda to impact the West in advance of the U.S. 2024 election.
Russian Disinformation Targeted Western Audiences: Report
A Russian disinformation group has been actively leveraging AI and other manipulative techniques, including the use of faked audio, imagery, and documents, to disseminate disinformation to Western mainstream audiences.
This, according to a recent bombshell NBC News report, which details the actions of Storm-1516, a shadowy Russian group that has produced fake videos featuring actors posing as alleged whistleblowers who spun false narratives involving everything from the War in Ukraine, to claims involving the candidates in the 2024 U.S. election.
Although many of the claims promoted by the group’s videos were debunked before they gained traction, some of the fabricated stories managed to reach a wider audience, all of them promoting narratives aimed at potentially helping advance Moscow’s military and political objectives.
However, the new revelations about Storm-1516’s role in seeding pro-Russian propaganda are just one area where false narratives and questionable claims have emerged in the weeks prior to Americans heading to the ballot box in November.
Storm-1516: What We Know So Far
Since last fall, close to 50 instances involving false narratives that are likely linked to Russian propaganda have been identified. Several of these efforts, which include actors posing as purported whistleblowers, appear to target Western support for Ukraine’s defense, while others focus on political efforts that include the re-election of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Several of the efforts have been linked to groups like Storm-1516, a pro-Kremlin outfit characterized as a “troll farm” that leverages social media and other outlets online for the dissemination of Russian propaganda. Among the groups activities outlined in the recent NBC News coverage were false accusations alleged against Vice President Kamala Harris, the current Democratic Nominee, as well as claims of a CIA plot against Donald Trump.
Beyond U.S. politics, one video linked to the group claims to feature testimony from a “whistleblower” who asserts that Ukrainian leaders had squandered money from U.S. aid for the purchase of yachts, none of which were ever purchased. Despite active efforts to expose the false claims, in several instances they have managed to reach prominent figures that include members of Congress and other officials.
Amplification of False Narratives with AI and Other Technologies
A key component of the recent efforts involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other sophisticated technologies to bolster the reach of false narratives. Bot networks operating on social media were also a prevalent component of the recent disinformation attempts.
In April, an incident logged by the AI Incident Database, which documents events linked to harmful activity associated with the deployment of various AI systems, reported that Storm-1516 had used a fake AI rendering of an alleged individual in Kyiv named “Olesya” that claimed to be involved with efforts in support for President Biden in the U.S. election.
“This disinformation campaign aimed to mislead voters, erode trust in democratic institutions, and influence the 2024 election,” read a portion of a summary of the incident featured at the AI Incident Database website, adding that the incident may also have included involvement from “individuals linked to Valery Korovin, and potential veterans of the Internet Research Agency.”
In September, The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center reported on efforts by Russia and Iran that variously targeted both major U.S. political parties in advance of the 2024 election, some of which involved “covert social media personas” and use of fabricated U.S. news websites.
In a posting at its blog, Clint Watts, General Manager with the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, noted an apparent shift in such efforts since August, which now focused much of their efforts on the Harris-Walz campaign as a “strategic move by Russian actors aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates.”
According to the posting, several of the activities had been linked to Storm-1516 and another newer group, Storm-1679, which also appeared to shift its propagandistic efforts away from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in favor of targeting the Vice President Harris. An example of this activity included a fake image of a billboard advertisement in New York featuring false claims about Harris which was viewed more than 100,000 within a four hour period following its appearance on Telegram.
Ongoing Concerns About Disinformation
Fundamentally, Moscow’s reliance on groups like Storm-1516 and others, paired with its leveraging the capabilities of social media, artificial intelligence, and sympathetic hacktivist outfits willing to aid in the dissemination of such false narratives, present increasingly problematic issues in the manipulation and control of information which, as recent reporting shows, often does make its way to large Western audiences.
Such propagandistic efforts targeting the U.S. are nothing new, and similar efforts have been reported by other Western nations, illustrating the global scale of disinformation operations carried out by Russia, as well as countries like Iran and China. It can be expected that similar disinformation efforts will only increase in advance of the November U.S. election.
Amid such concerns, implementing strategies to help reduce the spread of false information and help to raise awareness of the potential threats disinformation poses remain significant.
At a recent news conference, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland characterized such Russian disinformation operations as being issues that have remained present for decades, but which continue to evolve as new technologies are implemented.
“It’s a bigger threat than it ever was,” Garland said.
That concludes this week’s installment of The Intelligence Brief. You can read past editions of our newsletter at our website, or if you found this installment online, don’t forget to subscribe and get future email editions from us here. Also, if you have a tip or other information you’d like to send along directly to me, you can email me at micah [@] thedebrief [dot] org, or Tweet at me @MicahHanks.
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