Foreign interference actors, mostly operating out of Russia, Iran, and China, are ramping up efforts to influence US audiences ahead of 2024's national elections.
One prime example is Doppelganger, a Russia-based influence operation that has established several inauthentic news sites and social media accounts to disseminate stories designed to stoke political and social divisions in the US in the run-up to the elections.
The Doppelganger Effect A December 2023 report from Recorded Future identified the Doppelganger group using three sites - each one purporting to be a legitimate news outlet - for the operation.
Live, actively pushed out articles on the US elections and politics.
Press tended to portray LGBTQ+ activism, the US military's inclusivity efforts, and education programs in schools as a net negative and source of social discord.
Us had themes such as the US running out of ammunition because of its support for Ukraine and of China outpacing the US Navy on shipbuilding.
The three sites are among many that Doppelganger is using to target a US readership.
The effort appears to put into establishing some kind of content, growing an audience, and ensuring that content from each of the sites reaches a broad, mainstream audience.
Such groups often use inauthentic news websites and fake accounts on social media platforms to engage with target audiences and to try to influence their behavior.
Meta's most recent update on its efforts to deal with CIB activity, released in November, shared details of three separate influence operations that the company had dealt with recently.
One of the CIB networks targeted a US audience and involved 4,789 Facebook accounts supposedly belonging to American citizens.
Meta has identified Russia, Iran, and more recently China as the primary sources of influence and misinformation campaigns.
Negligible Impact So Far So far at least, many of these influence operations have gotten little traction.
In some campaigns the group has even spoofed websites of legitimate news organizations such as Fox News, Germany's Welt, and France's Le Parisien to try to get mainstream audiences to read its messaging.
One other notable ongoing Russian influence operation is the Foundation to Battle Injustice, an outlet that the late Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin once financed, Liston says.
The outlet still publishes content critical of the US justice system, law enforcement, and political persecution to negatively influence public opinion.
'Perception Hacking' Expect to also see Chinese and Iranian groups engaging in influence operations as well, Liston cautions.
While China's CIB networks will try to shape the US elections to their goals, it is unlikely they will indulge in any disruptive activities that are likely to damage the country's image internationally.
Iran's interference in the 2020 elections means it will almost certainly try again in 2024 as well, Liston says.
Such perception hacking can sow doubt and mistrust in the US election and democratic processes more effectively than the actual influence campaigns themselves, Meta said.
This Cyber News was published on www.darkreading.com. Publication date: Wed, 27 Dec 2023 14:00:32 +0000