Oct 03, 2024 23:00:00

Russia's 'Doppelganger' disinformation campaign is fooling not only Western countries but also its own leaders

The Russian government-led espionage network 'Doppelganger' is conducting various disinformation operations targeting Western countries. However, the news site Foreign Affairs, which deals with global affairs, reports that the disinformation operations have resulted in deceiving not only Western countries but also the leadership of the Russian government.

The Lies Russia Tells Itself: The Country's Propagandists Target the West—but Mislead the Kremlin, Too

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/lies-russia-tells-itself

Doppelganger has also interfered in the US presidential election, and the FBI seized 32 fake domains in September 2024.

FBI seizes 32 domains from Doppelganger, a Russian operation network that ran a disinformation campaign in the presidential election - GIGAZINE

The information obtained by Foreign Affairs this time is an internal document of the Social Design Agency (SDA), a Russian company involved in 'Doppelganger'. The document was originally provided to the Süddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous source, and Foreign Affairs contacted the source directly after receiving a request for comment from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and was able to obtain the entire document, which is 2.4 GB in size.

The leaked documents included records of every stage of the work in progress, including documents that would normally only be made public decades later in memoirs or as part of secret service archives, Foreign Affairs reported.

SDA was incorporated in December 2017 and its headquarters are located just seven minutes from the center of the Russian government. According to internal documents, as of 2024, the company will have more than 100 employees, including 18 managers, eight reporters and editors, 12 news monitoring staff, 20 social media monitoring staff, seven translators, three meme and cartoon artists, four video producers, and many others who work remotely.

The name 'Doppelganger' was not coined by the SDA itself, but by Alexander Alaphilippe of

the EU DisinfoLab , and since 2022, when it was named, Western countries have launched a large-scale effort to uncover the details of 'Doppelganger.'

Doppelganger - Media clones serving Russian propaganda - EU DisinfoLab
https://www.disinfo.eu/doppelganger/

Between November 2023 and August 2024 alone, when the disinformation campaign expanded, Doppelganger created more than 700 fake websites, making it one of Russia's largest 'disinformation production factories.'

According to the SDA document, the 'Doppelganger' carried out a disinformation campaign targeting Western countries, but it may have also fooled its own superiors and even the Russian government. Ironically, the biggest driver of the disinformation campaign was the Western countries' reports of their concerns about the 'Doppelganger.'

For example, the SDA proudly noted that there had been reports in the media that 'Doppelganger' operations were perceived as a threat in the target countries.

Foreign Affairs notes that efforts to expose and expose those at the top of disinformation operations can have a major positive effect on countering them, but cautions that exaggerating the effectiveness of operations that have little impact can actually benefit the agents who spread the disinformation.