A Russian-aligned propaganda network notorious for creating deepfake whistleblower videos appears to be behind a coordinated effort to promote wild and baseless claims that Minnesota governor andĀ vice presidentialĀ candidateĀ Tim Walzsexually assaulted one of his former students, according to several specialists tracking the disinformation campaign.
Experts believe that the campaign is tied to a network calledĀ Storm-1516, which has been linked to, among other things, a previous effort that falsely claimed vice president Kamala Harris perpetratedĀ a hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011. Storm-1516 has a long history of posting fake whistleblower videos, and often deepfake videos, to push Kremlin talking points to the West.
The propaganda unitās work has successfully reached the highest levels of the Republican party, with vice presidential candidateĀ JD VanceĀ repeating at least one of their narratives. NBCĀ reported this weekĀ that the group has pushed at least 50 false narratives in this manner since last fall, which comes amid a broader Russian government effort to disrupt next monthās election with the aim ofĀ helping former president Donald Trump return to the White House.
So JD is spreading this type of shit. Unlike Trump, heās not a complete idiot. The question, therefore, is whether he did so knowingly or not.