Less than three weeks before the US midterm elections to Congress, Russia has stepped up the “Doppelgänger” campaign to deepen political divisions in American society, including over support for Israel.
This is reported by The New York Times.
According to Alethea’s research, Kremlin bots are spreading posts on social media that create the impression that bipartisan support for Israel in the US is weakening. Researchers say the campaign is run by the Russian consultancy Social Design Agency, which is under US and EU sanctions.
As part of the operation, more than 50 fake accounts on the X social network were identified, often posing as Israeli women. They published messages in synchronised waves from around 7 October, the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Later, another network, which comprised more than a thousand accounts, amplified these posts across various discussions with large numbers of participants. Links in the posts often led to fake news articles on clone sites of genuine media outlets.
Alethea founder Lisa Kaplan noted that individual posts did not attract significant numbers of views or reactions. At the same time, the volume of posts and the comments beneath them suggests the campaign may have reached an audience.
On 14 October, X reported blocking 13,000 accounts linked to three separate influence operations attributed to Iran, Russia and China.
According to the platform, the fake profiles shared content about US politics and attacked candidates and public figures from across the political spectrum.
On 15 October, US intelligence officials attempted to hold a closed briefing for officials on threats ahead of the elections. However, technical problems prevented a secure virtual connection from being established with election staff. One US official said the event is expected to be rescheduled for next week.
He said such pre-election briefings usually contain background materials and information about threats, rather than intelligence that requires immediate action.
US officials familiar with intelligence reports told the NYT that they were not aware of the specific “Doppelgänger” campaign described by Alethea. At the same time, intelligence services noted increased activity by this network and the Social Design Agency ahead of the midterm elections.
Alethea identified posts aimed not only at American voters, but also at citizens of Israel and France. Elections in Israel are scheduled for 27 October, and in France for April next year.
US officials confirmed an intensification of Russian campaigns in all three countries.
Back in September, The New York Times reported that, according to secret US intelligence assessments, the Kremlin had approved a new digital disinformation campaign. Its aim is to amplify internal divisions in the US during the election period.
At the same time, US officials said those assessments found no evidence of attempts to interfere with election systems in a way that would jeopardise the voting process itself.
In addition to Doppelgänger, researchers are tracking other campaigns linked to Russia. In September, a network previously associated with Kremlin trolls circulated AI-generated videos. They contained unfounded allegations against Democrats running for the US Senate.
The analytics firm Graphika linked this activity to the Matryoshka operation. It assessed that the campaign included fabricated corruption claims about Democratic senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and John Hickenlooper of Colorado.
In October, posts linked to Matryoshka also spread a conspiracy theory claiming Democrats were allegedly involved in an attempted hijacking of a FlyDubai aircraft bound for Tel Aviv. Another Russian campaign promoted information about a recent deal between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to purchase Russian diesel fuel.
Graphika senior researcher Jean le Roux noted that the nature of these campaigns indicates their direction: he said Republican candidates are not facing similar attacks.
Foreign influence campaigns targeting American voters have existed for many years. Over time, however, their methods have changed: operations span more platforms, use new tactics and increasingly rely on artificial intelligence.
Experts also point to a reduction in social networks’ trust and safety efforts after prolonged criticism from conservative politicians and commentators, who accused platforms of restricting freedom of speech.
In Lisa Kaplan’s view, even posts with low engagement can be useful to the organisers of such operations if they help undermine trust. She stresses that spreading false information online is far easier than gaining access to other people’s accounts.
- Cases of Russian interference in electoral processes have also been recorded in other countries. Ahead of local elections in Germany, more than 180 fake posts were circulated on social media as part of the Russian information operation “Matryoshka”.