Smear campaigns part of Moscow's hybrid attempts to interfere in US election

US intelligence authorities have linked AI-enabled campaigns smearing presidential candidates to Russia's hybrid warfare.

Transcript

00:00How Moscow engineered a smear campaign against Tim Walz.

00:09Viral allegations of sexual abuse against the Democratic vice presidential candidate

00:14Tim Walz were fabricated by Moscow according to US authorities.

00:19It all started with this deep fake video showing a man claiming to be Walz's former student Matt Metro.

00:27He accuses Walz of grooming and abusing him.

00:31Maybe if I'd come forward some 27 years ago I could have prevented some other assaults.

00:37It turns out there was a Matt Metro who did attend the school where Walz taught

00:42but he was tracked down by the Washington Post and he firmly rejected the claims

00:47saying the man in the video was not him.

00:50The video shows substantial evidence of AI manipulation

00:54and while the content has now been flagged as false by online platforms

00:59it did spread virally online and reached millions.

01:04A known Russian propagandist John Duggan has spread similar claims.

01:09He was joined on a podcast show by a man claiming to be from Kazakhstan

01:14and to have been abused by Walz while a foreign exchange student at his school in Mankato, Minnesota.

01:21That school told CBS News Channel that they had no record of any exchange student from Kazakhstan.

01:29So who's behind the claims?

01:31All clues lead to Moscow according to US intelligence officials.

01:36They also warn interference from Russian, Chinese and Iranian groups

01:41could step up over the next days leading up to the US elections.