The Olympics are the next target in Russia’s disinformation war

We’re sadly accustomed to Russia interfering in our elections. An October 2023 U.S. government report warned Moscow tried to undermine public confidence in 11 elections across nine democracies between 2020 and 2022. And the country’s disinformation campaign has already begun for the 2024 cycle.

But it’s not just the political process that Russia wants to disrupt with disinformation. It’s also targeting public events, like this summer’s Olympic Games.

A recent report from Microsoft Threat Intelligence highlights how Russian-affiliated actors are trying to denigrate the reputation of the Olympics, just weeks away from its opening. Since June 2023, two Russian-linked groups, which Microsoft calls Storm-1679 and Storm-1099, have been sharing videos and other content on social media suggesting that the Olympics will be marred by violence. Creating the illusion of violence, the report warns, could undermine confidence in the International Olympic Committee and French security forces and “generate a sense of fear and uncertainty.”

“The disinformation campaign is very much in line with previous propaganda efforts we have seen throughout the previous year,” says Yevgeniy Golovchenko, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, who studies disinformation and censorship on social media.

Central to the campaign is a fake documentary that uses deepfake audio mimicking the voice of Tom Cruise to denigrate members of the IOC. Storm-1679 has also faked five-star reviews for the movie, titled Olympics Has Fallen, from the likes of The Washington Post and New York Times. (The anti-Olympic campaign hasn’t just been waged online. Earlier this week, five empty, plaster-filled caskets draped with French flags appeared near the Eiffel Tower, in what French investigators think is a Russian-linked intimidation tactic.)

“The overall goal is to sow distrust in our societal institutions and paint a picture of a declining, decadent West full of chaos and sometimes street violence,” says Golovchenko.

Olympics Has Fallen is just one facet of Russia’s disinformation campaign. The same group—Storm-1679—is also behind deepfake videos showing Euronews journalists reporting that Parisians were buying insurance policies to plan against Olympics-related violence, and another deepfake video showing a report from the outletFrance24 claiming a quarter of tickets for the games had been returned over fears of terror attacks.

That’s just the start of the disinformation campaign, warns Microsoft. The company “expects Russian Olympics-focused malign activity to intensify. Predominantly French-language activities will likely expand to English, German, and other languages to maximize visibility and traction online and the use of generative AI will also likely increase,” per the report.

It’s likely that Russia’s anti-Olympics campaign is a reaction against the ban it’s received from participating as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. 

Yet there are other reasons to sow discord, too: Putin is skeptical of the rise of the European Union, and the perceived threat it poses to his country. “I suspect it is retaliation coupled with being able to hit at a country at the core of the E.U.: France,” says Agnes Venema, a security researcher specializing in deepfakes at the University of Malta.

Russia’s activities are succeeding somewhat because they needle at preexisting issues. “Disinformation works really well when it exploits existing tensions in society, of which France has no shortage,” says Venema. “By stoking fear, it is conceivable that certain elements, potentially those propped up with Russian money, will seek to blame certain groups in society such as migrants.” 

All of which could make for a tough and confusing summer in Paris. “The online and offline are very much intertwined,” Venema says, “and that is a reality we must prepare for.”

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