Bogus hit-and-run story about Vice President Kamala Harris created by Russian troll farm, Microsoft says

A healthy respect for the free press and the institution of journalism is absolutely crucial for a healthy democracy. Media literacy matters, while a jaded “I don’t trust journalists, I do my own research” DIY attitude is easily co-opted.

A false claim that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a June 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed was created by a Russian troll farm, according to a report released Tuesday by Microsoft.

The report by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center said the fabricated story was created by a Kremlin-aligned group, dubbed Storm-1516, one of several Russian disinformation networks that Microsoft says is targeting the Harris-Walz campaign in the lead-up to November’s presidential election.

The hit-and-run claim surfaced in early September on a website masquerading as a local San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV. A five-minute video embedded in the article featured a woman speaking about the alleged incident. Microsoft’s report said the woman was a paid actor. The website was created on Aug. 20 and went offline days after it published the claims.

CBS News debunked the hit-and-run story when it first emerged; public records and news reports showed no evidence of the incident. The San Francisco Police Department told CBS News it did not have records of it. A CBS News analysis of a video that accompanied the article found it contained several photos from other unrelated news stories.

The story spread widely on social media; posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that featured the article and video amassed more than 7 million views, and the story was also shared on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Pro-Russian channels on Telegram, the popular messaging app European officials are investigating for alleged criminal activity on the platform, also amplified the claims. —CBS News

 

Post was last modified on 23 Sep 2024 11:54 pm

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Dennis G. Jerz

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