Russia targets Americans touring to Paris Olympics with faux CIA video

Russia has ramped up its disinformation operations focusing on the Paris Olympics, this time with a brand new video that makes it seem as if the CIA is warning Americans about touring within the metropolis’s metro. CBS News discovered the fabricated video, which comprises a faux warning a couple of “excessive threat” of an assault, originated in Russian channels earlier than making its approach to X and Facebook, the place it has racked up at the least 100,000 views throughout platforms.

The video is “a fabrication, has no connection to CIA, and doesn’t characterize CIA’s view,” a CIA spokesperson advised CBS News. U.S. officers haven’t warned Americans about touring on the metro through the video games, that are set to start on July 26 and finish on Aug. 11. The Paris Olympics organizing committee mentioned “safety is the best precedence of Paris 2024.”

The fabricated video comes from the identical Russian disinformation community that Microsoft uncovered in early June, which used AI to create a faux Netflix feature-length movie with Tom Cruise. “Russian-affiliated actors are hoping to sow disinformation and make it seem as if there’s a probability of violence through the Games,” Clint Watts, basic supervisor of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, advised CBS News.

Russian athletes have been banned from collaborating within the video games beneath their very own flag due to the nation’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Watts mentioned the Russian authorities has an extended historical past of operations associated to the Olympic Games, and mentioned the ban is probably going “a part of the motivation behind these operations.”

A CBS News investigation discovered an early model of this newest false CIA video on Telegram, a well-liked messaging app, posted by an influential Russian navy blogger with 200,000 followers who regularly shares content material from the Russian authorities and state media. Shortly after, two similar articles — one in English and one in French — appeared on sham information web sites run by a separate Russian disinformation community.

From there, it unfold to different social media platforms together with X, TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn. CBS News estimates that the video has been seen at the least 100,000 occasions.

On June 13, a brand new video was printed on Telegram with France 24 branding, claiming to point out a French official criticizing the CIA for alarming the general public for the Paris metro terror risk. CBS News confirmed the video is fabricated, was not produced by France24 and is a part of the identical Russian disinformation community because the others.

Alexis Prokopiev, co-founder of the French human rights nonprofit Russie-Libertés, advised CBS News that is a part of a broader technique to undermine confidence in U.S. and European officers. “From Vladimir Putin himself, there’s a clear technique to polarize opinions, to create extra mistrust in the direction of establishments.”

European Union officers are investigating Meta and X for potential regulation violations referring to disinformation on each platforms previous to the elections in early June. The EU can be probing Telegram to find out if the platform’s measurement would qualify it for stronger rules in Europe, much like Meta and X.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that the newest fabricated CIA video violated its insurance policies and has been faraway from the platform. A TikTok spokesperson additionally confirmed to CBS News the video was eliminated for breaching its Community Guidelines.

CBS News reached out to Telegram for remark and obtained an automatic response. A TikTok spokesperson shared the corporate’s Community Guidelines in response to a request for remark, LinkedIn shared its false and deceptive content material insurance policies however didn’t touch upon the CIA video, and X didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Watts mentioned he expects Russian networks could additional ramp up disinformation techniques nearer to the Olympics. This consists of utilizing trending information headlines to attract folks to deceptive posts and affect them to share the false content material.

Watts mentioned this specific disinformation community’s movies usually don’t get shared broadly or have a variety of engagement exterior Russian channels, thanks partially to researchers who’re monitoring and reporting on these operations.