US election campaign

Russia steps up disinformation against Harris

According to Microsoft, Russian actors are currently increasingly targeting the Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris.(Bild: AFP/KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI)

Russian actors are stepping up their disinformation campaign against US presidential candidate Kamala Harris, according to Microsoft. A Kremlin-linked group called Storm-1516 has produced two fake videos since the end of August to discredit the election campaign of Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, the US company said on Tuesday.

One video shows a group of alleged Harris supporters attacking a supposed participant at a Trump rally. The other video shows an actor spreading the fictitious claim that Harris injured a girl in an accident in 2011, who has been paralyzed ever since, and committed a hit-and-run.

Both videos reached millions of views, according to Microsoft.

A second Russian group called Storm-1679, following its fake news campaign in connection with the Olympic Games in Paris, is now also focusing on the distribution of videos intended to discredit Harris, the Microsoft report continued.

At the beginning of September, the USA accused Russia of large-scale attempts to manipulate the presidential election on November 5 and imposed sanctions against several people responsible for the Russian state broadcaster RT.