A false hit-and-run story involving Kamala Harris is part of a Russian disinformation campaign, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said.
What Happened: A fabricated claim that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris paralyzed a 13-year-old girl in a 2011 hit-and-run incident in San Francisco is the work of a Russian disinformation group, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Researchers at Microsoft identified the group, dubbed Storm-1516, as a Kremlin-aligned troll farm. The operation involved creating a video, hiring an actor to pose as the victim, and disseminating the story through a fake news website named "KBSF-TV."
The disinformation effort is seen as part of Russia's strategy to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election on November 5. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
In a blog post published on Tuesday, Microsoft noted that Storm-1516 began targeting Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, with false conspiracy theories in late August.
The fake news website KBSF-TV was created shortly before releasing the article about the alleged incident. The claim spread on social media platforms, including X.com, under the hashtag #HitAndRunKamala.
The video was shared by Aussie Cossack, a self-described "Registered foreign agent for Sputnik News," and has been viewed over 2.7 million times. Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center stated that pro-Russian entities helped amplify the video's reach.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department charged two employees of Russian state media network RT with money laundering for allegedly hiring an American company to produce election-influencing content.
Why It Matters: The revelation of this disinformation campaign comes amid a broader pattern of Russian interference in U.S. elections. According to Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center, Russian cyber-influence operations have increasingly targeted the Harris-Walz campaign as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
Earlier this year, Meta Platforms reported dismantling numerous Facebook accounts linked to covert influence campaigns from countries including Russia. These campaigns utilized AI tools to create fake images, videos, and text, aiming to manipulate users on social media platforms.
Additionally, the Kremlin has expressed a preference for Harris over Donald Trump, citing her "predictability" as a key factor. This sentiment was shared by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview, highlighting Russia's strategic calculations in the U.S. presidential race. Peskov dismissed Trump's claims of swiftly resolving the Ukraine conflict as "fantasy."
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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari
