Russia is quietly churning out fake content posing as US news

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

08/17/2025 07:00 AM EDT


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. 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.

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

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Just one more of the never-ending blessings of AI. nt

[Botany]

2. Storm 15-16 is just the latest form of Russian misinformation that is fed to America via right wing and

… mainstream media. I have lost 2 friends* to that propaganda. One believes that there is an on going
attack on manhood in America** and the other buys into “what about both sides?” Codswallop.


*. Love em dearly

**. QAnon, Victor Orban, and Josh Hawley kind of shit

[Evolve Dammit]

3. Sorry to hear. I have lost friends as well. Down the rabbit hole.

[wolfie001]

4. All 6 of my siblings are tRUMPers and have an email and YT echo chamber going full tilt

I think they've finally excluded me because I lash out. In a painful way.

[markodochartaigh]

5. It's a tight rope that Russian propagandists must walk.

They want to mimic US media, but if they add too many facts they will be quickly identified since US media is so light on facts. Similarly, if the propaganda is even slightly positive towards the Democratic party the propaganda will be instantly identifiable as foreign.

[yellow dahlia]

6. Thanks for keeping us up to speed, BRDS. n/t