A Russian disinformation group reportedly was behind a false conspiracy targeting Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, the latest incident in ongoing efforts by Russia, Iran, and other countries to interfere with the high-profile and hotly contested president election that is now two weeks away.

According to a report this week in Wired, the Russian-linked group called Storm-1516, which reportedly has fueled dozens of conspiracies over the past year alone, used a now-shut down anonymous account on X (formerly Twitter) that used a deepfake video claiming that a former student of Walz’s said he had been abused by the candidate when he was a high school teach and coach.

The account was deactivated after the conspiracy started gaining traction. The conspiracy had the hallmarks of Storm-1516, which uses fabricated primary sources to anchor their claims among fake documents and videos.

In a report last week, NBC News outlined how the group operates, linking it to at least 50 such campaigns since last fall.

“Much remains unknown about Storm-1516 — one prong of Russia’s propaganda operation — but it has produced some of the country’s most far-reaching and influential disinformation,” according to other NBC News report. “The Storm-1516 campaigns rely on faked primary sources — audio, video, photos, documents — presented as evidence of the claims’ veracity. They are then laundered through international news sources and influencers to reach their ultimate target: a mainstream Western audience.”

The news outlet said the false narrative campaigns have had various goals, from lessening support in Western countries for military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia to pushing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and attacking Vice President Kamala Harris. The hope is that Western media outlets and politicians pick up on the fake news and spread it.

Russia’s Changing Tactics

The latest fake controversy targeting Walz came about a month after Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) released a report about a “notable shift” in the tactics used by Russian influence operations – including Storm-1516 – to target the Harris-Walz campaign.

“The shift to focusing on the Harris-Walz campaign reflects a strategic move by Russian actors aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates,” Clint Watts, general manager of MTAC, wrote in a column. “Initially, Russian influence operations struggled to evolve their efforts following President Biden’s departure from the 2024 US presidential race. However, in late August and September, we observed two Russian actors MTAC tracks closely — previously reported as Storm-1516 and Storm-1679 — using videos designed to discredit Harris and stoke controversy around her campaign.”

During that time, Storm-1516 released two false videos that Watts said each generated millions of views. One claimed to show Harris supporters attacking a Trump rally attendee, while the other featured an actor lying that Harris was involved in a hit-and-run accident.

“As we inch closer to the election, we should expect Russian actors to continue to use cyber proxies and hacktivist groups to amplify their messages through media websites and social channels geared to spread divisive political content, staged videos, and AI-enhanced propaganda,” Watts wrote, nothing that other countries, particularly China, also are trying to interfere in U.S. elections.

The Country Has Been Warned

U.S. government agencies and cybersecurity vendors for more than a year have warned about interference by other countries, noting previous efforts in 2016, 2020, and 2022.

Iran has been active, with MTAC in August noting increasing efforts by groups aligned with the Iranian government over the summer to target the Trump campaign, though they also have put Harris’ campaign in the crosshairs.

“Looking forward, we expect Iranian actors will employ cyberattacks against institutions and candidates while simultaneously intensifying their efforts to amplify existing divisive issues within the US, like racial tensions, economic disparities, and gender-related issues,” the Microsoft unit wrote.

Quickly Shutting Down the Conspiracy

Russia will continue its efforts as well. The attack on Walz was quickly discounted when The Washington Post tracked down the former student featured in the deepfake video, who told the news organization that he was upset to find out that his identity was being used to attack the current Minnesota governor and that while he attended one of the schools were Walz taught, he had never met the man.

In recent weeks, two well-known right-wing media operations, Tenet Media and Intelligencer, were found to have tied to Russia. According to reports, Russia paid millions of dollars to Tenet Media to have far-right personalities such as Tim Poole, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin write articles with pro-Kremlin messages. The Justice Department (DOJ) didn’t blame the six influencers, with some of them saying the were unaware where the money was coming from.

Intelligencer also was supported by Russia and included a number of close Trump allies on the board and in other positions at the operation.

The federal government has taken action to try to stem Russia’s influence operations, with the DOJ and State and Treasury departments early last month seizing dozens of domains related to such a campaign, sanctioning 10 people and two entities, introducing a visa restriction policy, and announcing $10 million rewards for information about foreign agents attempting to disrupt U.S. elections.