Sustained AI-Driven Russian Disinformation Campaigns Doppelgänger, Storm-1516, and Matryoshka Reportedly Disrupting German Federal Elections
- Occurred
- Dec 6, 2024
- Published
- Dec 18, 2024
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
Leading up to Germany’s February 23, 2025, federal election, the alleged Russian Doppelgänger, Storm-1516, and Matryoshka (Operation Overload) disinformation campaigns have reportedly been deploying AI-generated deepfake videos and fake news sites to spread false claims about German politicians and public figures. AI-powered bots have allegedly been amplifying the content across social media. Researchers suggest the campaign sought to erode trust in Germany’s democratic process. Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) described the scale as unprecedented.
Developers
- Unknown entities related to Doppelgänger
- Deepfake technology developers
Deployers
- Storm-1679
- Storm-1516
- Russian government
- Operation Overload
- Matryoshka
- John Mark Dougan
- Doppelganger
Harmed parties
- Unnamed British police officer
- Unnamed American university presidents
- Robert Habeck
- Olaf Scholz
- Natalie Finch
- German voters
- German politicians
- German federal election integrity
- General public of Germany
- Friedrich Merz
- Academics targeted by Storm-1679
- Academics targeted by Operation Overload
- Academics targeted by Matryoshka
- Democratic integrity
Tags
- Deepfake disinformation
- Russian-backed disinformation campaign
- Misinformation
- Disinformation
- Elections
- Germany
- Alternative for Germany
- AfD
- Social media bots
- Foreign election meddling
Classification
Rationale: AI-generated deepfakes and disinformation campaigns targeting a national election constitute a significant threat to democratic integrity.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8