Russia is engaged in a coordinated disinformation campaign targeting the 2024 Paris Olympics, utilizing advanced techniques such as AI-generated content, social media bots, and state propaganda outlets. The campaign aims to portray Paris as an unsafe and unsuitable host city, spread false claims about crime, water quality, and transportation safety, and amplify controversies surrounding events like boxing disqualifications.
A viral music video portrayed Paris as a crime-ridden and unsafe city ahead of the 2024 Olympics. The video featured disturbing AI-generated images of rats, trash, and sewage, as well as an actor resembling President Macron. It spread rapidly on social media, aided by over 30,000 Russian-linked bots, and was quickly translated into 13 languages using AI.
Another video falsely claims the CIA and the US State Department warned American citizens against using the Paris metro.
Russia has a history of targeting Olympic Games with cyberattacks and propaganda, especially after being restricted from participating due to the Ukraine invasion.
The disinformation campaign during the Paris Olympics is notable for its technical sophistication, utilizing generative AI models to create fake content mimicking human-generated material.
Disinformation networks linked to the Kremlin also picked up on the controversy surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: Sentinel Colorado, Bloomberg, The Washington Times, Naharnet, 9News, Southernminn, Bay News 9, Head Topics, KION546, inkl, KURV, Daily Mail, WTOP, Greenfield Reporter, US News