Note added August 14 2024: This is a post the Natto Team published on April 21, 2023. It looks at a Russian information operation from 2020 that posed as two networks of news sites — one with a far-right orientation and the other with a leftist one — whose very names were a crass inside joke for Russian-speakers. The Internet Research Agency — the troll farm that likely created the sites — subsequently closed down, but the personas and other infrastructure continue to produce divisive and pro-Russian messaging. Today’s so-called “Doppelgänger” campaign and other Russia-based efforts, some using artificial intelligence, target the US election, the Olympics in France, and global support for Ukraine. Iran, too, has created false news outlets appealing to people on different sides of the US political spectrum, Microsoft reported in 2024. Assessments vary on the effectiveness of these disinformation efforts, but strong political opposition has silenced many US disinformation researchers, e…
