Russia has gone all-in on covert disinformation against Harris, Microsoft says

The video was viewed millions of times on social media, but some viewers were skeptical: It featured a young black woman claiming Vice President Kamala Harris left her paralyzed in a hit-and-run crash in San Francisco 13 years ago.

Sitting in a wheelchair, the alleged victim says in an emotional account that “I can no longer remain silent” and regrets that her childhood “ended too soon.”

Immediately after the video was posted on September 2, social media users pointed out reasons to be wary. The supposed news channel it came from, San Francisco’s KBSF-TV, did not exist. A website for the channel created just a week earlier contained plagiarized articles from real media outlets. X-rays of the woman in the video were taken from online medical journals. In addition, in the video and in the text on the website, the alleged victim’s name was spelled differently.

The caution was justified. According to a new threat intelligence report from Microsoft, the fabricated story was part of a disinformation operation originating from a troll farm linked to Russia.

The tech giant’s report released Tuesday details how Kremlin-aligned actors, who initially struggled to adjust to President Joe Biden’s exit from the race, have now gone into overdrive with their covert influence efforts against Harris and Democrats.

It also explains how Russian intelligence services are collaborating with pro-Russian cyber “hacktivists” to push allegedly hacked and leaked materials, a strategy the company says could be used as a weapon to undermine US confidence in the outcome of the November election.

The findings reveal how, despite significant changes in the political landscape, groups linked to America’s foreign adversaries have stepped up their commitment to influencing American political opinion as the election approaches, sometimes in deeply manipulative ways. They also provide further insight into how Russia’s efforts to combat pro-Ukrainian politics in the United States are translating into an escalation of attacks on the Democratic presidential nomination.

The report builds on previous U.S. concerns about Russian interference in the upcoming election. Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in an alleged scheme to secretly fund and influence a network of right-wing influencers.

Russian-linked actors have spent several months trying to manipulate American perspectives with covert posts, but so far, their efforts have had little impact. Notably, some of the recent examples cited in Microsoft’s report received significant engagement on social media from Americans who, unaware of the situation, shared the fake stories in outrage.

“As the election gets closer, people are more fired up,” Clint Watts, general manager of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, said in an interview. “People tend to get information from sources they don’t really know or wouldn’t even know how to evaluate.”

Microsoft said the video blaming Harris for a fake hit-and-run came from a Russia-aligned influence network it calls Storm-1516 and other researchers refer to as CopyCop. The video, whose main character is played by an actress, is typical of the group’s attempts to react to current events with authentic-sounding “whistleblower” accounts that can come across as juicy unreported news, the company said.

The report revealed a second video released by the group, which allegedly showed two black men beating a bloodied white woman at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The video was shared thousands of times on social media platform X and prompted comments such as: “This is the kind of thing that sparks civil wars.”

Microsoft’s report also points to another Russian influencer, which it calls Storm-1679, which has recently switched from posting about the French election and the Paris Olympics to posting about Harris. Earlier this month, the group posted a manipulated video showing a Times Square billboard linking Harris to gender-affirming surgeries.

The content highlighted in the report does not appear to use generative AI tools. Instead, it uses old-school actors and editing techniques.

Watts explained that Microsoft has been tracking countries’ use of AI for over a year and that while foreign actors initially tried AI, many have gone back to basics after realizing that AI “was probably more time-consuming and not more effective.”

Asked about the Kremlin’s motivations, Watts said the Russia-aligned groups Microsoft tracks don’t necessarily support specific candidates, but are motivated to undermine anyone who “is supporting Ukraine in its politics.”

Harris has vowed to continue supporting U.S. ally Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion if elected president. Trump has pushed back when asked if he wants Ukraine to win the war, saying in the recent presidential debate: “I want the war to end.”

At a forum in early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to jokingly suggest he would support Harris in the election. Intelligence officials have said Moscow prefers Trump.

Harris’ campaign declined to comment. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Microsoft found that Iranian groups have also been laying the groundwork to stoke election rifts by creating fake news sites, posing as activists and hitting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack.

U.S. intelligence officials are preparing criminal charges in connection with that attack, which targeted the Trump campaign, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Microsoft’s new report also refers to how another China-linked influencer has used short videos to criticize Biden and Harris and create anti-Trump content, suggesting that it does not appear interested in supporting any particular candidate.

Instead, the company said, the China-aligned group’s apparent goal is to “sow doubt and confusion among American voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.”

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