The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Lab (DFRLab) has uncovered a secretive information operation orchestrated by Russians targeting the former Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov.
The Center for Strategic Communications reported on DFRLab's investigation.
In late July 2023, DFRLab noticed several Twitter posts that repeatedly shared TikTok videos criticizing Oleksiy Reznikov. The accounts responsible for these posts uploaded only one video per account and utilized AI-generated audio. Following this discovery, BBC Verify identified hundreds of accounts employing similar tactics.
The Russians were disseminating videos alleging that Reznikov's daughter, ICTV Executive Director Anastasiia Shteingauz, had supposedly purchased a villa in Madrid through a deceptive Cypriot company. The coordinated use of AI-generated content and widespread dissemination on TikTok and Twitter raised concerns about the effectiveness of this disinformation campaign.
In a recent revelation, it was found that one of many accounts on TikTok uploaded individual videos containing similar accusations against various targets. However, the details within each video, such as images of an allegedly purchased villa and its cost, were inconsistent, raising numerous questions about the legitimacy of the allegations, as reported by Center for Strategic Communications.
At the time of publication, TikTok had identified and removed over 12,800 accounts participating in the psychological operation, according to the social media platform's estimates. The Russians engaged more than 847,000 followers and generated hundreds of millions of views.
TikTok described the situation as the most extensive information operation ever detected on the platform. It is considered a covert Russian Psychological operation.
