Microsoft reveals Russian election interference targeting Kamala Harris presidential campaign

Kamala Harris

Microsoft’s latest Threat Intelligence Report reveals that Russia has been targeting the Harris-Walz campaign. A report shared by Microsoft suggests that there has been a notable shift in Russian influence operations tactics reflecting the changing US political environment. Earlier in August, Microsoft had shared another report which revealed Russia and Iran targeting US presidential elections.

As per Microsoft, a Kremlin-aligned troll farm produced and disseminated two inauthentic videos, each generating millions of views. “One video depicted an attack by alleged Harris supporters on a supposed Trump rally attendee, while another used an on-screen actor to fabricate false claims about Harris’s involvement in a hit-and-run accident,” said Microsoft.

The second video was made live through a fake San Francisco media outlet, said Microsoft.

Microsoft also said that there has been a Russian hacking group that has been publishing false videos discrediting Vice President Harris. One of the videos, which was shared on X shortly after it was published to Telegram, depicted a fake New York City billboard advancing false claims about Harris’ policies. The X post received more than 100,000 views in the four hours after it was published on Telegram, said Microsoft.

According to Microsoft, Russia and Iran are not the only nation-states using influence operations to influence the election. A Chinese-linked influence actor Microsoft — codenamed Storm-1852 — created short-form video content that criticises the Biden administration and Harris campaign before some of its assets disappeared from social media following reports of its activity.

“Collectively, these three nation states — Iran, China and Russia — demonstrate the complexities of foreign interference that the US faces, and the need for the public to remain vigilant against these evolving threats,” noted Microsoft.

Microsoft has made it clear that it will not “endorse any candidate or political party” and its “goal in releasing these reports is to promote education and protect institutions from any form of foreign interference.”