Russian actors pushed disinformation campaigns on social media around Hurricanes Milton and Helene in an attempt to sow distrust in the American government and stoke outrage over Ukrainian support ahead of November’s election, according to a new analysis.
In the aftermath of the two national disasters, Russian state-affiliated media and social accounts amplified false narratives that were critical of the U.S. government. The accounts widely portrayed the Biden administration as “incompetent,” and used the response to the hurricanes “to illustrate perceived government failures write large,” the analysis said. The posts included misleading claims that the U.S. allocated resources to Ukraine, which is deep in war with Russia, over Americans own domestic needs.
The false information has spread largely “unchecked” on social media platforms by Russian outlets and other pro-Kremlin accounts, largely on X, according to the analysis.
“This strategy fits within a broader pattern of Russian interference, where existing societal divisions are deepened through targeted information campaigns designed to erode trust in democratic institutions,” the Institute for Strategic Dialogue wrote in a post on Thursday.
The Russian accounts heavily promoted false narratives that originated from U.S. figures, including billionaire Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump.
“By focusing on directly linking alleged government failures and U.S. aid to Ukraine, Russia attempts to paint the Ukraine aid as actively harmful to U.S. citizens in order to reduce public support for financial and material aid for the conflict,” the think tank wrote in the analysis. “With only a few weeks left until the U.S. faces a high-stakes presidential election, and in lieu of social media platforms providing the appropriate safeguards for users, maintaining vigilance on checking the sources of posts related to developing new stories will be crucial.”
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
So you woke up on Christmas morning to a new Mac. Perhaps it’s the miraculous M4
An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s suppo
U.S. tech investor Cathie Wood is calling on
Visiting adult and gambling websites doubles the risk of inadvertently installing malware onto work devices, according to a new study.
There are certain social media rules we can all agree on: Ghosting a conversation is impolite, and replying “k” to a text is the equivalent of a backhand slap (violent, wrong, and rude). But what
For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.”
The 14-year-old from
Japan Airlines said it was hit by a cyberattack Thursday, causing delays to
