The Justice Department seized internet domains and unsealed criminal charges as part of an effort to call attention to the spread of Russian-backed disinformation in advance of the 2024 election.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that the 32 internet domains were used by the Russian government and government-sponsored actors as part of a “covert campaign to interfere in and influence the outcome of our country’s elections.”
The DOJ claims that members of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s inner circle directed Russian PR fims to promote disinformation,
“An internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that a goal of the campaign is to secure Russia’s preferred outcome in the election,” Garland said. The government propaganda was created to reduce international support for Ukraine and bolster pro-Russian policies, he said.
The DOJ’s Lisa Monaco also said that Russian companies, including SDA, Structura and ANO Dialog fabricated influencers and created fake profiles to promote AI-generated false narratives on social media. The goal was to create false narratives that “targeted specific American demographics and regions in a calculated effort to subvert our election,” Monaco said.
The Justice Department also claims that the Russian-backed entities used “cybersquatting,” in which a domain in registered to mimic another better-known entity’s website. As an example, Washingtonpost.pm was registered to appear to be The Washington Post, with the content pushing out pro-Russian material, without disclosing its true source. Others mimicked Fox News and Forward. In another instance, the CNN logo was used to create a CNN California Facebook page, as well as one for the BBC, even though they were not associated with either network.
The DOJ also filed criminal charges against two employees of Russian-state backed RT, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena, of violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They are accused of orchestrating the financing of a $10 million content operation in Tennessee to publish videos on major social media channels. The government claimed that they used faked personas to edit content and help direct its operations. In one instance, Afanasyeva asked one of the founders of the company to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack on a Moscow music venue last March, the DOJ said. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are Russian nationals and still at large.
The DOJ included in its affidavit internal strategy notes and other documents that outlined the disinformation campaign, known as Doppelganger.
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