Russia is running a disinformation campaign ahead of the Paris Olympics. Among other things, Tom Cruise's AI-generated voice and fake news sites are being used to intimidate and smear, warns Microsoft.
Russia has a long history of smearing the Olympics when it hasn't participated or been excluded from the games. But ahead of the Paris Olympics this summer, old techniques are being mixed with artificial intelligence, writes Microsoft's threat analysis center in a blog post.
The two goals, according to the American tech giant, are to smear the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and create fear of violence.
According to the American tech giant, Russia is using a mix of fake videos, fabricated news articles, and AI-generated manipulated clips, which are being spread on social media.
The campaign took off last summer, when fake material in the form of a relatively sophisticated feature-length documentary was released on Telegram, allegedly by the hacking group Storm-1679. The film uses Tom Cruise's AI-manipulated voice.
"The use of smart computer-animated special effects and a broad marketing campaign (...) suggests a significant increase in skill and effort compared to most other influence campaigns," writes Microsoft.
Storm has, among other things, created fake news and information clips to scare visitors by posing as coming from the CIA and respected news sites, warning of terror attacks. The group has also spread pictures of what is claimed to be graffiti referencing the Munich 1972 terror attack.
Another hacking group, Doppelganger, is accused of creating French-language news sites that accuse the IOC of corruption and warn of violence.
The Kremlin denies the allegations and spokesperson Dmitri Peskov claims it's "slander and nothing more," according to CNBC.
Russia and Belarus – which support the war in Ukraine – will participate in the Olympics under a neutral flag. Athletes from these countries will be reviewed by an IOC panel to ensure they do not actively support the war or are employed by the military or security services of their countries. Russian and Belarusian teams are still banned from the Olympics.
