Appears that the Russian troll factory supposedly orchestrated a staged crash involving Harris
For some time now, a video has been making rounds on social media, implicating Kamala Harris in a hit-and-run incident. According to this video, which surfaced in 2011, the Democratic candidate supposedly injured a girl, leaving her wheelchair-bound ever since. As per reports, tech giant Microsoft has uncovered the culprits behind this conspiracy campaign against Harris.
Microsoft allegedly traced the campaign back to a Russian disinformation group named Storm-1516. This organization, believed to have ties with the Kremlin, is known for spreading misleading information and manipulating internet content.
The emergence of this conspiracy campaign is a sign that Russia is ramping up its efforts to meddle in US politics before the upcoming presidential and congressional elections in November. At the time of reporting, the Russian embassy in Washington had not responded to a request for comment.
Storm-1516 and their tactics
After President Biden announced he would not seek re-election, Russian influence operations initially faced challenges in adjusting their anti-Democratic strategies, as per Microsoft's statement in a blog post. However, toward the end of August, Storm-1516 started generating content connecting Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, to shocking fabricated conspiracy theories aimed at discrediting them.
Experts claim that Storm-1516 is known for creating videos featuring actors posing as whistleblowers or journalists spouting scandalous misinformation. In this case, the group reportedly paid an actor to portray the alleged hit-and-run victim, falsely claiming to have been paralyzed since the incident. Furthermore, a bogus website for a non-existent news channel called "KBSF-TV" was created. The manufactured story was propagated through this site and circulated on social media platforms like X, amassing over 2.7 million views in total.
Recently, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against two employees of Russian state broadcaster RT for alleged money laundering connections to election influence attempts in seven states. Additionally, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads, banned RT and other Russian state media globally from its online networks due to assumed foreign interference activities through disseminating fake news.
The fake news about Kamala Harris and the hit-and-run incident is being attributed to Storm-1516, a Russian disinformation group. The group is known for creating false narratives and using actors to spread misleading information.
In light of this, it's crucial to be vigilant about fake news and fact-check information, particularly during political campaigns.
