Russian disinformation attacks Paris, amplifies Khelifa’s accusations of undermining Olympics

By DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An actor in a viral music video denouncing the 2024 Olympics looks a lot like French President Emmanuel Macron, but the images of rats, garbage and sewage were invented by artificial intelligence.

Portraying Paris as a hotbed of crime, the video mocking the Games quickly spread across social media platforms like YouTube and X, aided by 30,000 social media bots linked to an infamous Russian disinformation group that had previously targeted France. Within days, the video was available in 13 languages, thanks to rapid AI translation.

“Paris, Paris, 1-2-3, go to the Seine and pee,” the AI-powered singer sneers, as an actor imitating Macron dances in the background, in what appears to be a reference to concerns about water quality in the Seine, where some of the competitions are being held.

As Moscow makes its presence felt at the Paris Olympics, groups linked to the Russian government are using online disinformation and state propaganda to spread provocative claims and attack the host country – underscoring how global events like the Olympics are now becoming prime targets for online disinformation and propaganda.

Only a small number of approved Russian athletes were allowed to compete as neutrals. The ban on Russian athletes competing under the country’s flag or in team sports after the invasion of Ukraine almost guaranteed a Kremlin response, said Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, a company that analyzes online disinformation. NewsGuard has tracked dozens of examples of disinformation targeting the Paris Games, including a fake music video.

Crovitz said the Russian disinformation campaign targeting the Olympics is of a high technical level.

“The difference now is that they are probably the most advanced users of generative AI models being used for malicious purposes: fake movies, fake music, fake websites,” he said.

AI can be used to create realistic images, audio, and video, quickly translate text, and generate culturally specific content that sounds and reads like it was created by humans. The once laborious task of creating fake social media accounts or websites and writing conversational posts can now be done quickly and cheaply.

Another video circulating this week claimed that the CIA and the U.S. State Department had warned Americans against using the Paris metro. No warning was issued, and French authorities later determined that the video was created by a group linked to the Russian government, likely using artificial intelligence.

Over the weekend, Kremlin-linked disinformation networks seized on divisions surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has faced undocumented questions about her gender. Khelif was assigned female at birth but unsubstantiated claims that she is male or transgender emerged after a controversial boxing association with links to Russia said she had failed an unclear qualifying test for last year’s world boxing championships.

Russian networks have amplified the debate, which has quickly become a popular topic online. British news outlets, author JK Rowling and right-wing politicians like Donald Trump have added to the deluge. At its peak late last week, X users were posting about the boxer tens of thousands of times an hour, according to analysis by PeakMetrics, a cybersecurity firm that tracks online narratives.

The boxing group at the heart of the claims — the International Boxing Association — has been permanently banned from the Olympics, has a Russian president who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and its biggest sponsor is state energy company Gazprom. Questions have also been raised about the decision to disqualify Khelif last year after she beat a Russian boxer.

Russian state media trumpeted the same false and misleading content. Instead of covering the sporting events, most of the coverage of the Olympics focused on crime, immigration, littering, and pollution.

An article in the state news agency Sputnik summed it up this way: “These Paris ‘games’ are certainly going great. Here’s an idea. Stop awarding the games to the decadent, rotting West.”

Russia has used propaganda to discredit previous Olympics, such as when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games. At the time, it distributed printed materials to Olympic officials in Africa and Asia suggesting that nonwhite athletes would be prosecuted by racists in the U.S., according to an analysis by Microsoft Threat Intelligence, a unit within the technology company that investigates malicious actors online.

Russia was also the target of cyberattacks on the Olympic organizers.

“If they cannot compete in or win the Games, they are seeking to dilute, discredit and degrade the international competition in the minds of participants, spectators and the global audience,” Microsoft analysts concluded.

A message left with the Russian government was not immediately returned Monday.

Authorities in France are on high alert for sabotage, cyberattacks or disinformation aimed at the Games. A 40-year-old Russian was arrested in France last month and accused of collaborating with a foreign power to destabilize the European country ahead of the Games.

Other nations, criminal groups, extremist organizations and scammers are also using the Olympics to spread their own disinformation. Any global event like the Olympics — or a climate catastrophe or a major election — that draws a lot of people online is likely to generate similar amounts of false and misleading claims, said Mark Calandra, executive vice president at CSC Digital Brand Services, a company that tracks fraudulent activity online.

CSC researchers have noticed a surge in fake website domain names being registered ahead of the Olympics. In many cases, groups set up sites that appear to provide Olympic content or sell Olympic merchandise.

Instead, they’re designed to collect user information. Sometimes it’s a scammer looking to steal personal financial information. In other cases, the sites are used by foreign governments to gather information about Americans — or as a way to spread more disinformation.

“Bad actors are looking for these global events,” Calandra said. “Whether they’re positive events like the Olympics or more troubling events, these people are taking advantage of everyone’s heightened awareness and interest to try to exploit them.”

Originally published: August 6, 2024 at 1:18 PM