Russia Targets U.S. Candidates Supporting Ukraine with Deepfake…

US intelligence reported on a Russian campaign against congressional candidates supporting Ukraine.

Consensus

Russia is running a covert information campaign targeting U.S. congressional candidates who support Ukraine.
The campaign uses AI-generated deepfakes and bot networks to disseminate disinformation.
The goal is to undermine trust in U.S. democratic institutions and the electoral process.
The U.S. intelligence community has identified Russian involvement based on a classified report.
No evidence of hacking into election infrastructure or campaign networks has been found.
The campaign is not limited to Democrats; both Democratic and Republican candidates supporting Ukraine are potential targets.
The campaign began in September and intensified before the November 3 elections.
The deepfakes feature fake videos of celebrities like Robert De Niro and Julia Roberts urging people not to vote for Democrats.
Bot networks such as 'Matryoshka' and 'Storm-1516' are linked to the disinformation efforts.
The disinformation includes false accusations against candidates, such as allegations of sexual assault against James Talarico.
The videos are artificially inflated in views, with high initial views followed by stagnation and low engagement.

The 'Matryoshka' bot network is responsible for spreading deepfake videos featuring celebrities. — meduza
The 'Storm-1516' network is linked to the GRU and has been implicated in interference in elections in Germany, Hungary, and France. — tg_agentstvonews
The intelligence report was received from Director of National Intelligence Jake Clayton. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
The report also covers operations by China and Iran, but Russian actions were highlighted for their scale. — tg_agentstvonews
The Republican representative Rick Crawford criticized Democrats for leaking classified information. — tg_agentstvonews
The deepfake videos were published on X under the logos of real news outlets. — meduza
The campaign was sanctioned by the Kremlin with the aim of creating chaos rather than ensuring victory for one party. — tg_agentstvonews