Voters in the United States

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 17022 Report
Russia-Linked Matryoshka Influence Operation Reportedly Used AI-Cloned Celebrity Voices and Fabricated News-Style Videos to Target Democratic Candidates Ahead of 2026 U.S. Midterms

2026-09-10

Researchers attributed a September 2026 influence campaign targeting U.S. Democratic Senate candidates to the Russia-linked Matryoshka/Operation Overload network. The campaign reportedly used AI-cloned celebrity voices and fabricated, news-branded videos to spread false or unsubstantiated claims on social media. Celebrities and CNN rejected the manipulated statements and unauthorized branding, which were intended to influence U.S. voters before the midterms.

Incident 17932 Report
Purported Deepfake Videos Allegedly Impersonated a Former Student to Falsely Accuse Texas U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico of Sexual Assault

2026-10-20

Two purported deepfake videos circulated on X using former student Zyon Lewis's identity to allegedly falsely accuse Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico of sexual assault. Lewis said the person depicted was not him and denied the allegation. Researchers linked the videos to the Russia-aligned Storm-1516 influence operation. The original account was suspended, but copies continued to circulate.

Incident 16261 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

2026-07-23

American Exceptionalism Institute reportedly aired an AI-generated political ad portraying Sen. Marsha Blackburn as accepting pharmaceutical-industry payments in exchange for legislative action. Blackburn's attorneys alleged that the bribery claims were defamatory and that the ad failed to comply with Tennessee's synthetic-media disclosure requirements. Comcast and Viamedia reportedly pulled the ad.

Incident 17151 Report
Russia-Linked Matryoshka Operators Reportedly Circulated Deepfake of Mother Jones Editor Claiming DNC Paid CNN $259 Million

2026-09-22

A Russia-linked Matryoshka disinformation operation reportedly circulated a deepfake video falsely branded as Mother Jones that impersonated editor Clara Jeffery and claimed the DNC paid CNN chief Mark Thompson $259 million to promote gender transition among children. Two X posts displayed about 205,000 views, though researchers said impressions may have overstated authentic reach. X later removed the posts after Mother Jones complained.

Voters in the United States

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 17022 ReportRussia-Linked Matryoshka Influence Operation Reportedly Used AI-Cloned Celebrity Voices and Fabricated News-Style Videos to Target Democratic Candidates Ahead of 2026 U.S. Midterms

Incident 17932 ReportPurported Deepfake Videos Allegedly Impersonated a Former Student to Falsely Accuse Texas U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico of Sexual Assault

Incident 16261 ReportAmerican Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Incident 17151 ReportRussia-Linked Matryoshka Operators Reportedly Circulated Deepfake of Mother Jones Editor Claiming DNC Paid CNN $259 Million

Related Entities Related EntitiesOther entities that are related to the same incident. For example, if the developer of an incident is this entity but the deployer is another entity, they are marked as related entities.

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Synthetic media creators

Incidents involved as Deployer

Political advocacy organizations

Incidents involved as Deployer

Political action committees

Incidents involved as Deployer

Information manipulation actors in the United States

Incidents involved as Deployer

Information manipulation actors

Incidents involved as Deployer

Deepfake creators

Incidents involved as Deployer

American Exceptionalism Institute

Incidents involved as Deployer

Synthetic video generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Synthetic media generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Synthetic audio generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Deepfake technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Voters in Tennessee

Incidents Harmed By

Voters

Incidents Harmed By

Marsha Blackburn

Incidents Harmed By

General public of Tennessee

Incidents Harmed By

General public

Incidents Harmed By

Epistemic integrity

Incidents Harmed By

Democratic integrity

Incidents Harmed By

Synthetic video generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Synthetic media generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Synthetic audio generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Deepfake technology

Incidents implicated systems

Storm-1679

Incidents involved as Deployer

Russian state-linked actors

Incidents involved as Deployer

Pro-Russian information manipulation actors

Incidents involved as Deployer

Operation Overload

Incidents involved as Deployer

Matryoshka

Incidents involved as Deployer

Information manipulation actors in Russia

Incidents involved as Deployer

Influence operation groups

Incidents involved as Deployer

Voice cloning technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Public figures

Incidents Harmed By

Politicians in the United States

Incidents Harmed By

Politicians

Incidents Harmed By

Political candidates targeted by deepfakes

Incidents Harmed By

deepfaked celebrities

Incidents Harmed By

Celebrities

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 17022 Report
Russia-Linked Matryoshka Influence Operation Reportedly Used AI-Cloned Celebrity Voices and Fabricated News-Style Videos to Target Democratic Candidates Ahead of 2026 U.S. Midterms

Incident 17932 Report
Purported Deepfake Videos Allegedly Impersonated a Former Student to Falsely Accuse Texas U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico of Sexual Assault

Incident 16261 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Incident 17151 Report
Russia-Linked Matryoshka Operators Reportedly Circulated Deepfake of Mother Jones Editor Claiming DNC Paid CNN $259 Million

Related Entities