Russian propagandists leverage celebrity Cameo videos for disseminating disinformation, says Microsoft

Cybersecurity experts at Microsoft revealed that Russian propagandists used videos of American celebrities from the platform Cameo to promote their false narratives about Ukraine. This tactic involved sharing manipulated videos of stars like Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson on pro-Russia social media channels in an attempt to spread misinformation. This information was disclosed in a report from Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center, which detailed how an unknown Russia-aligned influence actor obtained and manipulated these videos to serve their agenda.

The celebrities seemed to have no knowledge that the videos were later altered to seem like an attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the report, "The brief video messages, typically showing celebrities urging Vladimir to seek assistance for drug addiction, were manipulated by an unidentified individual to add emojis and links." The videos were extensively circulated by pro-Russian social media accounts and were later promoted by state-supported Russian media outlets. These outlets inaccurately portrayed the messages as direct appeals to President Zelensky.

The US embassy in Russia did not provide a comment in response to CNN's request. According to Microsoft researchers, they have observed at least seven manipulated videos of celebrities, including Wood, Tyson, Presley, Norris, Flannery, and McGinley, being used since late July 2023. The celebrities mentioned in the report did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.

According to the report by Microsoft researchers, the videos were altered to appear as interviews with news outlets or from a celebrity's social media account, all as part of a wider effort to urge Zelensky for help with a supposed substance abuse problem. Kremlin officials and Russian state-sponsored propaganda have been pushing the untrue narrative of President Zelensky's substance abuse issues for some time, but this new campaign represents a fresh tactic by pro-Russia actors to advance the false narrative in the online sphere of information.

A spokesperson for Cameo informed CNN that the company refrains from publicly discussing the specifics of its Trust & Safety investigations. The spokesperson did mention, however, that videos of this nature would go against Cameo's Community Guidelines. If such violations are confirmed, Cameo will usually remove the problematic content and suspend the purchaser's account to prevent further issues.