Tim Walz is the victim of a disturbing deepfake campaign and Russia is likely behind it

Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo: Shutterstock

A Kremlin-backed propaganda network is believed to be behind a disinformation campaign targeting vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, spreading false rumors that he sexually assaulted former students, according to reports WIRED.

Several experts claim that the Storm-1516 network is behind these efforts. This network is connected to many false claims, including a claim that Kamala Harris was hit and run in 2011.

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The disinformation campaign against Walz has mainly taken place in recent weeks. Deepfakes and anonymous accusations were spread against the former football coach, sourced exclusively from QAnon accounts and shared by other far-right sources. These are shared by right-wing figures such as Trump campaigner Jack Posobiec and activist Candace Owens.

The most recent claim involved stealing information from a former student of Walz to create an elaborate deepfake alleging that Walz sexually assaulted him. The video was quickly flagged as fake by users on X, and even the man depicted in the video said it was completely made up.

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Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, shared WIRED that this is a common tactic from the Russian playbook. “There is little doubt that this is Storm-1516,” said Linvill, who helped discover Storm-1516 last year.

Storm-1516 usually creates an account on social media that is connected to the far-right network. It then spreads false information to trick users into sharing stories they believe come from whistleblowers or citizen journalists. Linvill says they often use X and YouTube to post stories.

Much of this can be traced back to John Dougan, an ex-Florida police officer who now works with the Kremlin to spread disinformation. Dougan helped spread the initial false claims about Walz, acting alongside an anonymous man, “Rick,” who claims to be a former student. Dougan runs numerous fake news websites used by Storm-1516.

“We believe it could be a coordinated campaign in an attempt to make numerous false accusations of the same nature against Tim Walz through different channels and in different formats in order to lend an image of legitimacy to the story,” said Alex Liberty. , a researcher who tracks Russian disinformation.

A common trend among all these efforts is that none of them have any evidence to support them. They are often easy to debunk by analyzing the videos or contacting the alleged parties involved. NewsGuard, for example, debunked Dougan’s “Rick” claim shortly after it was published.

McKenzie Sadeghi, AI and foreign influence editor at NewsGuard, said of the deepfake video: “The false narrative appears to be part of a broader campaign being pushed by pro-Kremlin media and QAnon influencers ahead of the US elections. November 5, 2024, focused on he portrays Walz, whose political appeal is being a mainstream teacher and coach, as a pedophile who had inappropriate relationships with minors.

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