X Just Nuked A Russian Disinformation Network Targeting Democratic Candidates
A network of X accounts associated with the Russian disinformation campaign Storm-1516 were removed from the platform Thursday evening, just a day after they launched a bizarre disinformation campaign against Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson of Maine. Earlier this week, a group of accounts from the same network was caught spreading manipulated content targeting Senate candidate James Talarico and Senator Sherrod Brown with fabricated accusations of sexual assault, bringing to three the number of Democratic Senate candidates who have been targeted by Russian disinformation campaigns this week alone.
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While none of these disinformation narratives broke through to mainstream news coverage, the fact they were able to generate millions of views on a major social media platform just days before the midterm elections serves as a startling reminder that Russia’s efforts to influence our elections are persistent, ongoing, and designed specifically to bypass our defenses. Furthermore, while X nuked a bunch of the accounts associated with this disinformation campaign, I uncovered evidence that other accounts linked to this network were able to evade suspension and are still active on the platform.