Russia’s disinformation campaign has gone a step further since the war in Ukraine: cloning legitimate and trusted news websites.
A TikTok video portraying a father and daughter, luxury cars and glamorous homes doesn’t seem out of the norm for the social media platform. But when that father is a former defense minister of Ukraine, and an AI voice-over falsely claims he misused Western funds to fund a lavish lifestyle, the TikTok is a “breadcrumb” to a massive Russian disinformation investigation, experts say.
“It's one thing to see a bunch of people talking about a politician and accusing them of corruption. Partisan conversations happen all the time online. But once you start seeing a similar narrative popping up again and again,” Carvin said, “well, our Spidey sense goes off when those things happen.”
That “lot” amounted to nearly 13,000 TikTok accounts, which had a combined total of over 800,000 followers. The videos gained hundreds of thousands of views. With over a billion users, 13,000 accounts on TikTok are a drop in the bucket. But in the realm of disinformation, this network is valuable. This information attack on Ukraine isn’t new, according to the DFRL’s report. What’s different is that these campaigns are no longer just targeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but also government officials, military figures, and local authorities.
“Russia has a fascinating strategy when it comes to posting propaganda disinformation and the like,” Carvin said. “They don't embrace quality. Their goal isn't to make the perfect deep fake or the perfect lie. They would rather throw as much spaghetti as possible at the wall and see what sticks.”
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