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Russian propaganda is using deepfakes, sham websites and social media swarms

The hallmarks of Russian-backed influence are consistent: trying to erode support for Ukraine, discrediting democratic institutions and seizing on existing political divides.

toggle caption Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images A deepfake video of a State Department official falsely claiming a Russian city is a legitimate target for Ukrainian strikes using U.S. weapons. "They're often producing narratives that feel like they're throwing spaghetti at a wall," said Andy Carvin, managing editor at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, which tracks online information operations. That hasn’t stopped RT articles from proliferating across hundreds of other websites widely available in Europe, according to a recent report from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the University of Amsterdam and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

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