Russian bots spread a video with Tom Cruise's voice generated by AI, in which they scare people with the threat of terrorist attacks at the Olympics
As Microsoft explains, the goal of pro-Russian groups is to discourage people from attending the Olympic competitions
Russian-affiliated groups of bots are spreading messages about the threat of terrorist attacks at the Summer Olympics in Paris, according to Microsoft.
According to experts, the bot networks behind this influence campaign are identified by Microsoft as Storm-1679 and Storm-1099.
In particular, the bots spreading disinformation used the voice of actor Tom Cruise, generated by artificial intelligence. As a result, ‘Tom Cruise’ voiced a video titled ‘The Fall of the Olympics’, which also contains links to non-existent materials from The New York Times and the BBC.
Researchers also discovered a fake account masquerading as the French media outlet France24.
It distributed a video claiming that a quarter of those who bought tickets to the Games were demanding a refund because of fear of a terrorist threat.
According to Microsoft, the goal of pro-Russian groups is to discourage people from attending the Olympic competitions. Microsoft researchers expect bot activity to increase in July. The bots are likely to use more foreign languages and use artificial intelligence to expand their reach.
Pro-Russian bots started threatening people with terrorist attacks in Paris last year: in November, the same bot network, also called Doppelgänger in the media, distributed a video in which terrorists threatened to repeat the attack on Jews that took place at the 1972 Munich Olympics at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Background. As reported, French President Emmanuel Macron has ‘no doubt’ that the upcoming Olympic Games could be the target of malicious acts by Russia.
‘I have no doubt, including attacks in terms of information,’ Macron said when asked by a journalist whether Russia could threaten the Olympics.
As a reminder, a few days ago, a Chechen who was preparing a terrorist attack at the upcoming Olympics was detained in France. The suspect was arrested and charged with links to ISIS militants.
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