Tim Walz has been the victim of an alarming deepfake and it is likely that Russia is behind it
Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo: Shutterstock
A Kremlin-backed propaganda network is allegedly behind a disinformation campaign targeting Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, spreading false rumors that he sexually assaulted former students, according to WIRED.
Various experts allege that the network Storm-1516 is behind these efforts. This network is tied to many false claims, including one that alleged Kamala Harris committed a hit-and-run in 2011.
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The misinformation campaign against Walz has primarily taken place within the past few weeks. The deepfakes and anonymous accusations were spread by QAnon and other far-right groups against the former coach. The most recent deepfake was crafted using information stolen from a former Walz student to create an elaborate deepfake alleging Walz sexually abused him. The video was quickly identified by users on X as fake, and even the man depicted in the video spoke out to say it was entirely fabricated.
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Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, told WIRED that this is a common tactic from Russia’s playbook. “There is little doubt this is Storm-1516,” said Linvill, who helped uncover Storm-1516 last year.
Storm-1516 typically creates an account on social media that gets tapped into the far-right network. Then, it spreads false information to trick users into believing that the stories are coming from whistleblowers and citizen journalists. Linvill claims they use X and YouTube a lot to post stories.
Much traces back John Dougan, a former Florida cop who works for the Kremlin spreading disinformation. Dougan, who appears with a man named Rick, who claims to have been a former student, helped spread the first false claims against Walz. Dougan runs numerous fake news websites used by Storm-1516.
“We believe that it might be a coordinated campaign in
attempt to bring numerous false accusations of the same nature against Tim Walz through different channels and in different formats in order to bring an image of legitimacy to the narrative,” said Alex Liberty, a researcher tracking Russian disinformation.[an]A common trend with all of these efforts is that none of them have any evidence to back them up. It is easy to debunk them by analyzing videos or contacting the parties involved. NewsGuard, for instance, debunked Dougan’s claim with “Rick” shortly after it was publicized.
McKenzie Sadeghi, AI and foreign influence editor at NewsGuard, said of the deepfake video, “The false narrative appears to be part of a wider campaign pushed by pro-Kremlin media and QAnon influencers ahead of the November 5, 2024, US elections aimed at portraying Walz, whose political appeal is as an everyman schoolteacher and coach, as a pedophile who had inappropriate relationships with minors.”
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