US Intensifies Efforts to Combat Russian Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Election

US cracks down on Russian disinformation before 2024 election

Today, the U.S. Justice Department said the FBI seized 32 web domains used by the Doppelgänger Russian-linked influence operation network in a disinformation campaign targeting the American public ahead of this year's presidential election. According to court documents, Doppelgänger is believed to be linked to Russian companies Social Design Agency (SDA), Structura National Technology (Structura), and ANO Dialog controlled by the Russian Presidential Administration (i.e., the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko). Doppelgänger operatives used the domains (all controlled with the Vesta open source hosting control panel) to spread Russian government propaganda that aimed to promote pro-Russian policies and interests, including reducing international support for Ukraine and influencing voters in U.S. and foreign elections in Germany, Mexico, and Israel, among others. "At Putin's direction, Russian companies SDA, Structura, and ANO Dialog used cybersquatting, fabricated influencers, and fake profiles to covertly promote AI-generated false narratives on social media," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. "Those narratives targeted specific American demographics and regions in a calculated effort to subvert our election." The complete list of domains used by Doppelgänger for spreading disinformation that the FBI has seized includes: Doppelgänger frequently used "cybersquatted" domains crafted to mimic legitimate websites (such as registering washingtonpost.pm to resemble washingtonpost.com and spiegel.agency to impersonate spiegel.de) to spread Russian government messaging falsely portrayed as content from reputable news organizations. The group sometimes also created its own media brands, like Recent Reliable News, to further disseminate disinformation content. To increase traffic to these sites, Doppelgänger employed various strategies, including using "influencers," running paid social media ads (occasionally generated with artificial intelligence), and creating social media profiles that impersonated U.S. or non-Russian citizens. These profiles were used to post comments with links to the cybersquatting domains, aiming to mislead viewers into thinking they were being redirected to legitimate news media websites. The Department of Justice also indicted Russian nationals Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, a Digital Media Projects Manager and an employee of RT (formerly Russia Today), a Russian state-controlled media outlet, for orchestrating a $10 million scheme that created and distributed pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation to U.S. audiences. They published almost 2,000 videos on YouTube that were viewed more than 16 million times through a Tennessee-based proxy online content creation company. The videos were also posted on social media, including TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter. Kalashnikov, Afanasyeva, and eight other RT executives, including Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonovna Simonyan, as well as a hacking group known as "Russian Angry Hackers Did It" (aka RaHDit) with RT and Russian intelligence services ties, were also sanctioned today by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "RT, formerly Russia Today, is a Russian state-funded news outlet that began broadcasting internationally in 2005. In 2017, RT registered as an agent of a foreign government in the United States," OFAC said. "Beginning in early 2024, RT executives began an effort to covertly recruit unwitting American influencers. RT used a front company to disguise its own involvement or the involvement of the Russian government." In August, the U.S. government also warned of increased efforts from Iranian hackers to influence the 2024 presidential election through cyber operations targeting both Presidential campaigns and the American public. The FBI recently assured the American public that disruptive activity targeting voting infrastructure, such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) or ransomware attacks, will not impact the integrity or security of the 2024 U.S. general election processes.

US seizes websites allegedly used by Russia to spread election disinformation

The US Department of Justice is seizing dozens of websites allegedly used by the Russian government to spread disinformation in an effort to meddle with the presidential election. The seizures were among several actions announced on Wednesday as the US government seeks to stop the distribution of misinformation ahead of the polls in November. It also shows how the US is once again focused on Russia, which was accused of interfering with the 2016 election. A Congress report found Russia sought to help former president Donald Trump, a Republican, prevail over the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in that vote. The DoJ on Wednesday accused Moscow of setting up a scheme to "covertly spread Russian government propaganda" with the aim of influencing voters, curbing global support for Ukraine and boosting pro-Russian interests. Federal authorities are seizing 32 internet domains for violating money laundering and criminal trademark laws. "As alleged in our court filings, President Vladimir Putin's inner circle . . . directed Russian public relations companies to promote disinformation and state-sponsored narratives as part of a programme to influence the 2024 US presidential election," said US attorney-general Merrick Garland. It named Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff of the presidential executive office, as part of that inner circle. "An internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that a goal of the campaign is to secure Russia's preferred outcome in the election," Garland added. One "goal" outlined in Russian documents included ensuring the victory of "Political Party A" and "Candidate A", whose descriptions appear to correspond to the Republican party and Trump, according to an FBI filing. The content was published on websites that were created to mimic real news outlets such as Fox News and The Washington Post, the DoJ said. The domain washingtonpost.pm was allegedly registered to imitate washingtonpost.com, for instance. One article on the fake Washington Post website read: "It is time for our leaders to recognise that continued support for Ukraine is a mistake. It was a waste of lives and money, and to claim otherwise only means further destruction. For the sake of everyone involved in the conflict, the Biden administration should just make a peace agreement and move on." US prosecutors said the scheme also involved deploying influencers globally, paying for social media advertisements -- some of which were made using artificial intelligence -- and creating social media profiles pretending to represent US and other non-Russian users. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked about the evolution of Russia's efforts to influence US elections, Garland warned: "It's an acceleration of, and it's an increased sophistication of, and it's use of AI and cyber techniques that were not available in earlier elections, so we're just seeing more and more it's coming faster and faster . . . It's a bigger threat than it ever was before". Separately on Wednesday, an indictment was unsealed charging two Russian employees of state-controlled media outlet Russia Today with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires agents of foreign governments to register with the DoJ, and to commit money laundering. Russia Today did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Washington is on high alert for interference by foreign powers in the 2024 presidential election. Last month, US intelligence officials said Iran was behind the hacking of Trump's presidential campaign and had also sought to compromise the campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.