(CN) — As midterm elections grew near, a Twitter account in the name of Senator Marco Rubio shared an inflammatory message.
“British GCHQ that spied on @realDonaldTrump in 2016 is back in the game,” the tweet attributed to Rubio, complete with a blue checkmark, said in July 2018. “Now they intend to use #DeepFakes to support Democrats during the midterm elections.”
Only the tweet was not Rubio’s, and there was no such espionage plot from U.S. allies in the United Kingdom.
There was, however, a six-year Russian misinformation campaign titled “Secondary Infektion” that flooded countries across Europe and North America with fake stories and forged documents to provoke tensions between perceived enemies.
Those are the findings of a 120-page report released Tuesday by the New York-based research firm Graphika.
According to researchers Ben Nimmo, Camille Francois, C. Shawn Eib, Lea Ronzaud, Rodrigo Ferreira, Chris Hernon and Tim Kostelncik, the operatives posted 2,500 pieces of content in seven languages over 300 platforms. Most used burner social media accounts abandoned after one post, primarily focused on Kremlin-friendly messages depicting Ukraine as a failed state, NATO as a source of global aggression, Muslim immigration as a threat, and Russia’s doping scandals as a rush to judgment.
“Little is yet known about the central entity behind the operation: its identity is the single most pressing question to emerge from this study,” the report’s executive summary states. “The Facebook security team uncovered a small cluster of accounts run by the operation for the first time in May 2019 and provided the original attribution to actors based in Russia.”
Graphika’s team reported that Facebook’s discovery led others to uncover Secondary Infektion late last year and early this year.
Loading...
Privacy Preference Center
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Always active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Performance Cookies
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Always active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Performance Cookies
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.