Dougan allegedly created a network of fake news sites.

A former Florida sheriff who moved to Russia amid an FBI investigation is a Kremlin-backed propagandist responsible for viral deepfake videos and misinformation targeting Kamala Harris’s campaign, according to European intelligence documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

The GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, gave funding to John Mark Dougan, the operator of several fake news websites. According to documents reviewed by the Post, Dugan was responsible for several websites that seemingly published fake local news, including DC Weekly, Chicago Chronicle, and Atlanta Observer.

  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
    151·
    6 days ago

    I love his response at the end of the article.

    Dougan told the Post he wasn’t behind DC Weekly and other sites and said he didn’t know Korovin or Khoroshenky. He said he worked as an IT consultant for an American company.

    “I will tell you hypothetically, if they were my sites,” he said, “then I am merely fighting fire with fire because the West is fucking lying about everything that’s happening,” Dougan said. “They are lying about everything.”

    Those aren’t my websites… but if they were, "I AM FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE BATTLING THE CAPITALIST MENACE IN THE WEST AND WILL SEE YOUR NATION FALL, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA… ahem… hypothetically.