Doppelganger builds on Russia’s history of agitprop operations by employing AI to more effectively generate and disseminate content that favours Russian interests. Russian cyber operations, including disinformation, seemed to focus intently on U.S. elections for the first time during the 2016 presidential election cycle. Since then, counterespionage efforts have identified Russian Active Measures operations online globally. 

Russia’s influence operations use disinformation to enhance divisions between political interest groups and encourage extremist views. Against the 2024 US presidential contest, Doppelganger is employing generative AI to make content faster and more believable, then publishing it on clones of legitimate news organizations’ websites. (These tactics are also used in Iran’s Cyber influence operations targeting the 2024 US election.)

Key Judgment 1. Russia’s longstanding influence programs will likely continue to exploit emerging technologies, like AI, to improve content quality and dissemination.

Key Judgment 2. Growing public awareness of maligned information operations and anti-Russian sentiment will likely dampen the effectiveness of Moscow’s campaigns.

Key Judgment 3. US authorities will likely continue to counter foreign influence operations like Doppelganger through legal actions, sanctions, and public education programs.