It is believed that there will be more such posts.
At the end of last week, fake videos spread on social networks with hashtags like “#AllDemocratsAreCriminals.” The posts showed Hollywood actors criticizing the Democratic Party in statements recorded by themselves with the CNN broadcaster’s logo.
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“Today in America, there is not a single child who is not threatened by the danger of the Democrats,” says a generated voice of “How I Met Your Mother” star Alyson Hannigan in one of the posts.
In another post, actress Emma Caulfield is depicted saying that Democrats “drink our blood,” and in a third, Sarah Jessica Parker allegedly calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Democrats Nazis.
These clips were created using material stolen from elsewhere on the internet. In one fake featuring Julia Roberts, a fabricated audio was added to the 2023 “Gucci” advertising campaign video. Others were created based on videos uploaded to Cameo – a platform where celebrities can sell personal video messages to fans.
“I feel violated,” Emma Caulfield, known for her role in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” told AFP news agency.
“It’s not me, and worse, this cheap imitation is a heartless idiot,” she added, commenting on the video using her image.
“I had no idea this was happening,” added Ed Begley Jr., actor from “Better Call Saul,” whose Cameo video was altered to make it appear that he was accusing Democrats, calling them perverts.
“I want to officially state that I completely disagree with everything said in that video,” he declared.
Eric Roberts, star of “Runaway Train,” seeing that his Cameo footage was similarly distorted to depict him attacking Democrats over transgender issues, told AFP that these statements “are not my words and do not reflect my beliefs.”
“I am very concerned that my image was manipulated and used to deceive the public,” said the actor.
A CNN representative also disapproved, stating that the unauthorized use of the network’s trademark and said the mentioned videos “are not CNN content and have no connection to CNN.”
“The first salvo”
Disinformation researchers said that the synthetic deepfake videos are likely part of the Kremlin’s “Matryoshka” or “Operation Overload” campaign. This campaign is known for spreading fake videos on social networks made to look like they come from news organizations.
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“I think this is the first salvo aimed at Russia” for the November US midterm elections, said Clemson University expert Darren Linvill, who studies Russian influence campaigns.
“Since 2016, Russians have targeted every US election with some kind of social media campaign,” said D. Linvill. “I fully expected this.”
The internet collective “Antibot4navalny” was the first to attribute the fake videos to “Matryoshka” due to their typical pattern of distribution and multiplication on social networks.
Pablo Maristany de las Casas, an analyst at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), who has monitored Russian efforts to influence elections across Europe, said that fake audio recordings and the use of the CNN logo are also low-effort tactics consistent with “Matryoshka” methods.
“Using Cameo videos is not new,” he said. “They used it in regional and local German elections, Hungarian elections, Armenian elections.”
French prosecutors announced last month that they are also investigating suspected Russian fakes and fake video reports targeting two main centrist candidates in next year’s presidential election.
Although the campaign’s work often has minimal impact, and “X,” “Bluesky,” and “TikTok” have removed some posts, experts said these videos show which US election battles and issues Russia intends to target during elections that could change the balance of power in the US Congress.
The operation appears to be intensifying.
“Antibot4navalny” also noticed other fake CNN video reports defaming Democratic candidates, including Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
The group also warned AFP about additional fake video reports that appeared on Monday aimed at discrediting cable TV “MS Now” work exposing fake videos with celebrities.
The posts included disinformation journalist Brandy Zadrozny, falsely claiming she retracted her reports on the expanding disinformation campaign.
