Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidates

NEW YORK (AP) — Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates in the final stretch of midterm voting.

One of the targets is Sherrod Brown, who is running against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. The video, which appears to include some AI manipulation, depicts a newscast and includes a picture of Haya Akbik, who interned for Brown several years ago.

It was appalling to Akbik, who told The Associated Press that any claims attributed to her in the clip are “completely made up.”

“It’s my name, it’s my reputation, making this allegation, and it’s just completely false,” she said. “And it harms the senator, someone else, in the process. So, it’s just messed up.”

The videos demonstrate how foreign adversaries continue to use a familiar playbook to try to influence American voters who are deciding which party controls Congress next year. The threat could be magnified with AI, a powerful tool for fabricating damaging information that can sometimes appear very real.

Another target is James Talarico, who is running against Republican Ken Paxton for a Senate seat in Texas. The video, also believed to include some AI manipulation, is framed as a direct-to-camera confessional from a former student of Talarico.

“The most powerful people in the world know they can’t beat James Talarico with the truth, so they’re slandering him with AI deepfakes, foreign bots, and conspiracy theories to protect their broken, corrupt political system,” Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement.

The social media company X has taken down the initial posts that shared the videos and suspended the users for violating the platform’s rules. However, copies could still be found online Tuesday — some with hundreds of shares — demonstrating how difficult it can be to contain disinformation that can proliferate in the final days of an election.

Experts see a resemblance to Russian clips from 2024

The videos resemble clips from a Russian network known as Storm-1516 that targeted former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, two years ago.

The new ones bear similar hallmarks and are likely products of the same network, according to Clemson University professor and media forensics expert Darren Linvill. He found that the accounts that shared recent material had also shared former content from Storm-1516.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, it has denied interfering in U.S. elections.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has publicly identified some videos as Russian disinformation in past election cycles, also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Hany Farid, a Dartmouth College professor who studies artificial intelligence deepfakes, said his analyses showed that videos targeting Brown and Talarico were likely either generated or manipulated using the technology.

He noted the video targeting Brown is a “fairly low-tech fake.” The other one, targeting Talarico, is likely generated by AI and “it is consistent with previous disinformation campaigns released close to Election Day,” Farid said.

Akbik said the video featuring her shows the importance of Congress regulating “AI slop on the internet.”

“This is so damaging,” she said.