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CRC Weekly: Cyber-based hostile influence campaigns 15th-21th September

  • Writer: CRC
    CRC
  • Sep 21
  • 8 min read
Weekly Media Update banner with a child in a suit and helmet, pointing up. Text: Information Operations, 15th–21rd Sept 2025.


[Introduction]


Cyber-based hostile influence campaigns are aimed at influencing target audiences by promoting information and/or disinformation over the internet, sometimes combined with cyber-attacks which enhance their effect. During the last week we observed, collected and analyzed endpoints of information related to cyber-based hostile influence campaigns (including Cyfluence attacks). The following report is a summary of what we regard as the main events.


[Report Highlights]


  • Russia's Ministry of Defense is "AI-washing" propaganda with a new program featuring a virtual host. - NewsGuard


  • A large-scale Russian hybrid campaign, using bots and trolls, has been confirmed as a key factor in the annulment of Romania's 2024 presidential elections. - Romania Insider


  • A Russian covert influence network is automating pro-Kremlin propaganda using uncensored LLMs to populate hundreds of new websites. - Recorded Future & Cybernews


  • China is expanding its global influence by controlling digital platforms and shaping societal narratives through grassroots cultural organizations. - Doublethink Lab


  • A U.S. congressional investigation is probing a "dark money network" allegedly funneling CCP funds to fuel civil unrest in America. - Global Influence Operations Report


  • The misinformation output from leading AI chatbots has doubled as malign actors exploit real-time web search features to launder falsehoods. - Cybernews


  • Leaked documents reveal a Beijing-based firm has developed an "army of AI personas" for conducting sophisticated online influence operations. - The Record



[Weekly Review]


  1. Kremlin Targets Western Cohesion: Disinformation Undermines Ukraine 'Coalition of the Willing'

  2. Russia's AI-Powered Disinformation

  3. ‘Severe Interference’ annulment of Romanian Presidential Elections confirmed

  4. Deepfakes, Bribery, and Propaganda Target Moldova's Sovereignty

  5. CopyCop's Global Ambitions: Russian Influence Network Expands with 300 New Websites

  6. Digital Platforms and Narratives: PRC Expands Influence via Social Media Ownership

  7. Dark Money Network: Unmasking CCP's Covert Influence in US Society

  8. AI Chatbots' Misinformation Rate Has Doubled

  9. China's GoLaxy Deploys AI Persona Armies for Advanced Global Influence Operations

  10. Fabricated Israel-Kirk Assassination Claim Gains Millions of Views via Amplification Techniques

  11. Building Resilience: A Blueprint for Countering Information Warfare in Eastern Europe

  1. Kremlin Targets Western Cohesion: Disinformation Undermines Ukraine 'Coalition of the Willing'


A recent analysis from NewsGuard Reality Check reveals a multi-pronged pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting and dividing Western nations over proposed peacekeeping deployments in Ukraine. This campaign, targeting the 'Coalition of the Willing,' uses advanced tactics to undermine European support for Kyiv, a critical component of the broader information warfare landscape. Propagandists deployed AI-generated videos, impersonating legitimate news outlets like France 24, to falsely claim that French President Emmanuel Macron's army chief had disavowed an order to send troops. Simultaneously, pro-Kremlin channels circulated a fabricated map, riddled with linguistic errors, purporting to show a Western plan to partition Ukraine's territory and resources among France, the U.K., Poland, and Romania. These efforts seek to frame Western peacekeeping as imperialistic aggression, discouraging further U.S. and European involvement. The campaign leverages anonymous accounts across major social media platforms and builds on a pattern of targeting France as Macron increases support for Ukraine, as previously documented by NewsGuard.




  1. Russia's AI-Powered Disinformation


According to NewsGuard, the state-owned Zvezda TV channel now airs a program featuring an AI-generated host named "Natasha." This approach allows the Kremlin to disseminate propaganda, including deepfakes of Western leaders, while maintaining plausible deniability by attributing the content to an algorithm. The strategy represents a significant development in state-sponsored disinformation, using AI as a tool to obscure attribution and create a layer of separation from the propaganda's message, making it more challenging to track.




  1. ‘Severe Interference’ annulment of Romanian Presidential Elections confirmed


Romania's general prosecutor has confirmed that the country's annulled 2024 presidential elections were heavily influenced by a large-scale Russian hybrid campaign. The report from Romania Insider states that Russia deployed bots, trolls, and AI-generated content to inflame tensions and amplify hate speech during the campaign. Four Russia-linked firms were identified as being behind the operations, which targeted voters through a mix of traditional media, troll farms, and coordinated bot networks. This digital interference was deemed so severe that it contributed to the unprecedented cancellation of the election results, highlighting a direct cyber-enabled assault on a nation's democratic process.



  1. Deepfakes, Bribery, and Propaganda Target Moldova's Sovereignty


Ahead of its September parliamentary elections, Moldova faces significant risks from large-scale Russian interference. A report by SBS News highlights an extensive disinformation network comprising tens of thousands of accounts that spread falsehoods via AI-generated deepfakes, bots, and trolls. Moscow has reportedly spent up to €200 million on these digital influence efforts. Pro-Russian parties, particularly in regions dominated by Russian media, benefit from Kremlin narratives that are amplified by these campaigns. Critics warn that such interference could undermine Moldova’s EU integration and jeopardize its sovereignty by exploiting the digital information space for political gain.



  1. CopyCop's Global Ambitions: Russian Influence Network Expands with 300 New Websites


Recorded Future's Insikt Group provide us with their analysis of a significant expansion of CopyCop (Storm-1516), a Russian covert influence network. Since March 2025, CopyCop has created over 300 new fictional media websites, targeting the United States, France, Canada, Armenia, and Moldova, while diversifying its linguistic reach to include Turkish, Ukrainian, and Swahili content. This vast infrastructure, very likely operated by John Mark Dougan with support from the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) and the GRU, disseminates pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian, and anti-Western narratives. The network's core objectives remain consistent: eroding support for Ukraine and exacerbating political fragmentation in Western nations, now extending to Russia’s broader sphere of influence. A notable tactical evolution includes the use of self-hosted, uncensored large language models, likely based on Meta's Llama 3, to generate AI content at scale. CopyCop employs deepfakes, fake interviews, and fabricated dossiers, with content frequently amplified by social media influencers and other Russian networks like Portal Kombat. The network's impact remains significant, regularly achieving high organic engagement and breaking into mainstream political discourse, posing a persistent threat to democratic institutions and information integrity globally.



  1. Digital Platforms and Narratives: PRC Expands Influence via Social Media Ownership


The 2024 China Index, assessing 101 countries across nine domains, has revealed a general intensification of Beijing’s reach since 2022.  Mediums’ Global Research Team examines the implications of this significant expansion of China’s global influence. While East and Southeast Asia remain highly impacted, the sharpest increases are observed in Central America, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting the evolving strategies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and broadened technological investments. Technology and foreign policy persist as the most influential domains globally, but the Society domain recorded the largest increase, signaling deeper efforts to shape societal narratives. Notably, the report highlights a critical trend: PRC-linked entities now control or hold significant ownership in top social media or messaging applications in 65% of assessed countries, up from 45% in 2022. This expanded digital platform involvement, alongside intensified grassroots engagement through cultural events, underscores Beijing's growing capacity to influence information environments and align global discourse with its policy objectives. Conversely, coercive tactics show little correlation with actual policy alignment, suggesting a preference for long-term engagement.



  1. Dark Money Network: Unmasking CCP's Covert Influence in US Society


A congressional investigation is escalating into a U.S. billionaire for allegedly fueling a Chinese Communist Party influence campaign. According to the Global Influence Operations Report, the strategy involves a "dark money network" that funnels millions through non-profits to pro-CCP media outlets. These funds are intended to foment civil unrest and manipulate political discourse in the United States. The probe is scrutinizing potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The case highlights a sophisticated form of covert foreign intervention that leverages financial and media platforms to secretly create social discord.


Source: The Global Influence Operations Report, The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, https://www.global-influence-ops.com/ccp-funding-congress-probes-neville-roy-singham/


  1. AI Chatbots' Misinformation Rate Has Doubled


Cybernews reports on the increasing rate of misinformation from AI chatbots, citing a NewsGuard study that found a doubling of falsehoods in the past year. According to the article, this is due to a "structural tradeoff" where AI models' use of real-time web searches and a 0% non-response rate has made them more vulnerable to a "polluted online information ecosystem." Malign actors, such as Russian disinformation operations, exploit this by seeding the internet with falsehoods that the chatbots then "launder" as legitimate information.


The article also references a report by the American Security Project, which found that some AI models have been trained on messaging from the Chinese Communist Party. The broader issue, as the article concludes, is that the public places a high degree of trust in AI despite its known propensity to "hallucinate," a problem even acknowledged by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.


Source:  Cybernews, Sep 2025,  https://cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-chatbots-misinformation-rate-falsehoods/; newsguardtech, AI False Information Rate Nearly Doubles in One Year, Sep 2025 [online]


  1. China's GoLaxy Deploys AI Persona Armies for Advanced Global Influence Operations


Leaked "GoLaxy papers," discovered by Brett Goldstein and analyzed with Brett Benson, are analyzed by The Record and reveal that China's GoLaxy has developed an "AI persona army" for sophisticated information warfare. Using a system that uses generative AI, like DeepSeek, to create highly realistic digital identities. These personas move beyond traditional "blunt-force" troll farm methods, instead engaging in subtle, human-like interactions to shape narratives and conduct persuasion operations. The system scrapes millions of social media data points to build psychological profiles, including thousands of Americans, for highly targeted propaganda. This development represents a major shift in global information warfare, posing a more effective threat to national security in regions such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and potentially the United States. GoLaxy's subsequent deletion of website sections when contacted lends credibility to these claims, highlighting the challenge of detecting and defending against AI-generated manipulation. Researchers warn that AI-driven propaganda is a present danger, requiring new defenses to distinguish human from machine interactions. This new frontier in national security demands urgent public and governmental understanding.


Source: The Record, Dina Temple-Raston & Erika Gajda, September 2025, https://therecord.media/golaxy-china-artificial-intelligence-papers


  1. Fabricated Israel-Kirk Assassination Claim Gains Millions of Views via Amplification Techniques


NewsGuard's "Reality Check" reports on a disinformation strategy in which anti-Israel social media influencers falsely claimed a letter from Israel's chief rabbi proved the country had foreknowledge of Charlie Kirk's assassination. Prominent figures like Jackson Hinkle, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes amplified the claim, which was based on a typo in the letter's date. The chief rabbi's office confirmed to NewsGuard that the letter was actually sent two days after Kirk's death, not eight days before.

This case exemplifies how bad actors exploit errors and misinformation to fuel conspiracy theories and advance a broader narrative. In this instance, the disinformation sought to implicate Israel in the murder of a pro-Israel activist, a claim that Iran also promoted. The broad reach of these false posts, garnering millions of views, highlights the speed at which unsubstantiated claims can spread on platforms like X and the challenge of correcting such falsehoods once they have gained traction.


Source: NewsGuard, Reality Check, September 2025, https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/letter-with-typo-pushed-as-evidence


  1. Building Resilience: A Blueprint for Countering Information Warfare in Eastern Europe


The Atlantic Council's DFRLab and the Info Ops Poland Foundation have partnered to counter information manipulation in the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe, where such campaigns are used to undermine democratic institutions. The project focuses on creating a "blueprint" to counter these strategies by strengthening the capabilities and expertise of local stakeholders. Building on a previous project that documented hostile actors' tactics and techniques, the new initiative aims to build a more resilient society capable of mitigating both immediate and future threats from information warfare, moving beyond simply exposing individual disinformation campaigns.


Source: The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), Info Ops Poland Foundation, https://dfrlab.org/2025/09/15/module-ii-partnering-to-counter-information-manipulation-in-south-caucasus-and-eastern-europe/



[CRC Glossary]


The Cyfluence Research Centre has relaunched the CRC Glossary.  This initiative aims to serve as a shared lexicon of both foundational and emerging terms that shape the field. To this end, the Glossary is designed to be a continually updated resource, with new entries added weekly. We see this as a collaborative project and strongly encourage input from the expert community. The goal is to reduce the problem of ambiguous or conflicting terminology that can hinder collaborative work as well as communication effectiveness to the general public as a whole. 


We invite you to submit additions, changes, or corrections via the form on our website.


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