Russian Fake News Network Run by ex-Sheriff’s Deputy, Runs 200+ Web Sites

If it worked for the 2024 presidential election, why not rinse and repeat?

The Russian troll farm that posted a video claiming Kamala Harris was a rhino poacher is back with hundreds of new fake news sites.

But wait, there is more.

NOW, they are using AI to spin up more content, more quickly with less work.

The websites are likely the work of John Mark Dougan, a former sheriff’s deputy from Florida, who was granted political asylum by our president’s close friend, Vladamir.

According to security firm Recorded Future, the Russian hacking group called CopyCop or Storm 1516 is self-hosting the AI LLM’s so that they cannot be “taken down” They are using Facebook’s Llama 3 models to do the dirty work. Since the content is generally pretty simplistic, they don’t need the latest LLMs to do the job.

Dougan is allegedly supported by the Kremlin and his phony web sites (aka media outlets) have been cited thousands of times in social media posts and so-called news articles (check your sources, reporters).

Sources as generally reliable as the US Treasury connect Dougan to Moscow’s Center for Geopolitical Expertise and also to the GRU (sort of like our NSA or DIA).

The so-far discovered over 200 NEW websites impersonate fictional local media outlets in the US, France, Canada and Norway, political parties in France, Canada and Armenia and FICTIONAL fact-checking organizations in foreign languages like Turkish, Ukrainian and Swahili.

The sites don’t necessarily make up news, rather they cherry pick stories to advance the narrative that Putin wants to advance. I.e., a propaganda machine, based on AI. They take the articles from other sources and rewrite them using AI. The goal is to skew elections worldwide.

Since the administration has gutted CISA’s work to counter online disinformation, these sites will likely really ramp up next year as we get closer to the midterms. I think it is safe to say that Russia will not stop doing this as it is very cheap compared to most forms of espionage, is probably not illegal even if it is unsavory, and it will likely be effective on a small group of US citizens.

Senators Warner and Padilla urged DNI director Gabbard to give lawmakers a briefing amid concerns that she told the intelligence community to stop disclosing details about foreign interference in US elections. If she did, this I am sure she will come right out and tell them that. Credit: The Register

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