Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo: Shutterstock
A Kremlin-backed propaganda network is said to be behind a disinformation campaign targeting vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, spreading false rumors that he sexually assaulted former students. Ta. wired.
Various experts claim that the network Storm-1516 is behind these efforts. The network has been tied to a number of false claims, including one alleging that Kamala Harris committed a hit-and-run in 2011.
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The misinformation campaign against Walz has primarily taken place within the past few weeks. The deepfakes and anonymous allegations against the former football coach stemmed exclusively from QAnon accounts and were shared by other far-right sources. These are also shared by right-wing figures such as Trump campaigner Jack Posobiec and activist Candace Owens.
The latest claims involved stealing information from Walz’s former students and creating elaborate deepfakes alleging that Walz sexually assaulted them. The video was quickly discovered to be fake by X users, with even the man in the video calling it out as a complete fabrication.
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said Darren Linville, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub. wired This is a common tactic in Russian strategy. “There is little doubt that this is Storm-1516,” said Linville, who helped discover Storm-1516 last year.
Storm-1516 typically creates accounts on social media and is used by far-right networks. They then spread false information to trick users into sharing articles that appear to be from whistleblowers or citizen journalists. Linville says she often uses X and YouTube to publish her stories.
Much of it goes back to John Dugan, a former Florida police officer who now works with the Kremlin to spread disinformation. Dugan appeared with “Rick,” an anonymous man who claimed to be a former student and helped spread the initial false claims about Walz. Dougan runs a number of fake news websites used by Storm-1516.
“We believe it could be an organized campaign. [an] “They are trying to bring a number of false accusations of the same nature against Tim Walz in different channels and in different formats in order to give an image of legitimacy to the story,” said Alex Liberty, a researcher who tracks Russian disinformation. he said.
The common thread in all of these efforts is that there is no evidence to support them. In many cases, lies can be easily uncovered by analyzing the video or contacting the alleged parties. For example, News Guard Error exposed Dogan’s claims against “Rick” shortly after they were made public.
MacKenzie Sadeghi, NewsGuard’s AI and Foreign Influence Editor, said of the deepfake video, “This false narrative is being used by pro-Kremlin media and QAnon influencers ahead of the November 5, 2024 US election. It appears to be part of a broader campaign promoted by It portrays Waltz, whose political appeal as a civilian schoolteacher and coach, is a pedophile who had inappropriate relationships with minors. ”
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