Russia is quietly churning out fake content posing as US news (Surprise!)

[usonian]

A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spread disinformation — and they’re spoofing reputable news outlets to do it.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/17/russia-us-news-media-disinformation-campaign-00512173

Double Surprise!
While online Russian influence operations have existed for many years, security experts say artificial intelligence is making it harder for people to discern what’s real.

A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spread disinformation, and it’s spoofing reputable organizations — including news outlets, nonprofits and government agencies — to do so.

According to misinformation tracker NewsGuard, the campaign — which has been tracked by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center as Storm-1679 since at least 2022 — takes advantage of high-profile events to pump out fabricated content from various publications, including ABC News, BBC and most recently POLITICO.

This year, the group has focused on flooding the internet with fake content surrounding the German SNAP elections and the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary vote. The campaign also sought to plant false narratives around the war in Ukraine ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

McKenzie Sadeghi, AI and foreign influence editor at NewsGuard, said in an interview that since early 2024, the group has been publishing “pro-Kremlin content en masse in the form of videos” mimicking these organizations. “If even just one or a few of their fake videos go viral per year, that makes all of the other videos worth it,” she said.

And I thought that U.S. "agencies" and news outlets were spoofing Pravda and Putin's diary.

[ImNotGod]

1. I remember this being reported before the election when we weren't a satellite puppet state of russia.

not sure if the Garland JD or FBI were investigating this but they should have been. I think there was an active attempt by some internet owned conglomerates to shut the fake news sites down but I'm sure the tech bros were at the back door letting them in.

[mitch96]

2. This is part of the "plan"....control the narrative...control the maga brain...nt

[Wounded Bear]

3. If you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention. They've been doing it for years...nt