X did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.
The posts didn't get much engagement, but unlike China's disinformation campaigns, some apparently authentic users responded to the messages. One responded by writing “Fuck Palestine,” while another responded with an image that read: “Free Palestine.”
The covert Doppelganger campaign echoed the narratives of overt Russian channels, including Telegram groups and state media, which over the past week have highlighted the “threat of deadly police violence against demonstrators” and linked the current protests to the Protests in Kent State in 1970 when four students were shot and killed by the National Guard. Although there have been more than 2,000 arrests in campus protests across the US to date, the protests have been largely peaceful and no one has been killed.
On Facebook, Sputnik wrote: “'Land of the Free? How US Lawmakers Are Restricting Students' Right to Peaceful Protest: US lawmakers have once again shown where their sympathies lie in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by cracking down on student protests against the massacre in the Gaza Strip.”
The coordinated campaign also took place on Telegram, where Russian influencers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers amplified content around the protests. On one channel, a military blogger with more than 800,000 followers posted videos showing police on campuses across the US and claiming there was “urban warfare training.” In one comment on the video, a subscriber asked when the conflict will begin: “North against South, crips against blood, donkeys against elephants and everyone against everyone.” The message has been viewed more than 250,000 times.
The Telegram channels appear to be coordinating around a narrative accusing the US government of hypocrisy when it comes to the freedom to protest and organize, according to an analysis shared with WIRED from Logically, a company that uses artificial intelligence to build disinformation campaigns tracks.
“As the 2024 U.S. elections approach, this is yet another example of signals coming from Russian-language channels that Russia is shifting its access to domestic U.S. issues after nearly two years of largely focusing on Ukraine,” said Kyle Walter, Global Head of Investigative Research at Innovation. on Logically, tells WIRED.
Russia is not alone in this. Along with China and Iran, state media in the three countries produced nearly 400 articles in English in two weeks about the campus protests, according to NewsGuard, an organization that tracks disinformation online. These governments have also used social media platforms in an official capacity to push their narratives: A post on of #freedom in the US”
Disinformation surrounding the protests has not been limited to foreign actors, and US-based far-right figures have fueled numerous conspiracies surrounding Soros and others financing the protests. including purchasing student tents– which have been repeated in regular points of sale. But Russia is now trying to build on these stories:
“Doppelganger uses and adopts and expands pre-existing conspiracies about the protests for the Kremlin's own purposes, using multiple avenues to increase support for Trump while amplifying pre-existing conspiracies and adding his own criticism of Biden” , the Antibot4Navalny researchers tell WIRED.