Ahead of the US elections later this year, Microsoft said an interference campaign has already begun in which both Russia and China are doing everything in their power to manipulate voter opinion.
Micosofts Threat Analysis Center (MTAC), which tracks disinformation campaigns run by Russia, China, and Iran, revealed some of the first operations on its blog.
The report notes that Russia and China each have their own methods for distributing disinformation and making it appear legitimate to Western audiences.
sock puppet vs democracy
Russia’s priority is to undermine U.S. aid to Ukraine in order to delay or cancel weapons that Ukraine desperately needs, and the current hold on the $61 billion package is a major threat to Ukraine’s front lines. has a significant negative impact on
But China is focused on further dividing an already polarized society and sowing distrust in U.S. democratic institutions, likely due to avoidable voter fraud that will be revealed before and after the election. It is highly likely that this is an attempt to justify a claim that does not exist.
So far, Russian actors such as Storm-1516 have preferred to use whistleblowers and citizen journalists to point out apparent contradictions and lies (many of which are false) in videos on social media. came.
The video was then picked up by Russia-linked news websites, exaggerating the video’s audience and lending some legitimacy to the video’s claims. Once this coverage is shared widely across global networks, more Russian government officials, expatriates, and travelers will likely share the video coverage.
By “laundering” the original video in this way, the claims within the video are read and disseminated by Western viewers who are likely unaware of the video’s origin.
China, on the other hand, prefers to use sock puppets – legitimate social media accounts with activities and photos that act like their target audience – with persuasive captions to spread disinformation. As legitimate American voters.
As the US election approaches, one of the things that will be particularly noteworthy is the prominence of AI-enhanced content. MTAC advises that this content is far more effective at manipulating viewers than mass AI-generated deepfake videos.
It is much easier to use AI to enhance or manipulate existing images and videos than it is to generate new content, and the end result is often more convincing. But MTAC says AI audio can be much more convincing than video, especially when the manipulated or generated audio sounds as if it’s coming from a private environment, such as a phone call or a private conversation.
Although Iran has not yet launched its influence campaign and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East may have delayed or thwarted planned interventions, Iran typically launches influence campaigns at the last minute. moment, and its influence campaign is likely to be fueled by Iran-related content. conflict with Israel.
