The U.S. Senate warns the technology industry to prevent Russian disinformation attacks: You may be surrounded by actors

There is only more than a month left in the U.S. presidential election, and this election will affect the world situation in the next four years. On September 18, the U.S. Senate summoned senior executives from Google, Apple, and Meta to attend a public hearing to discuss countermeasures to prevent the possible spread of online false information and hacker terrorist attacks. The public hearing invited technology industry tycoons from all parties, including Musk’s . TikTok, which Generation Z likes, is not on the invitation list.

This public hearing was hosted by Virginia Senator Mark Warner. It was mainly to warn technology company executives to be more vigilant and prevent forces from outside the United States from interfering with the U.S. presidential election with fake news or false information. During the meeting, they were also asked about their current situation. There are countermeasures. Waner hopes to expand the government's cooperation with Silicon Valley high-tech companies to root out Russian, Iranian and Chinese activities.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned ten Russian citizens, several of whom were employees of RT News (formerly Russia Today), Wired's senior national security political reporter Dell Cameron reported. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russian media of working with intelligence services to influence online opinion and providing funding to right-wing outlet Tenet Media.

In its testimony to the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that it had uncovered 32 websites that were counterfeiting CNN and Fox News, spreading content that was more favorable to Russia, especially emphasizing that it was of no value to help Ukraine and countering Russia's fake news that was too risky. .

The espionage war between the United States and Russia has begun long ago, and information attack and defense have become the focus

Andy Carvin, editorial director of The Digital Forensic Research Lab, said they had been observing the Russian espionage operation, named The Doppelganger by the U.S. Department of Justice, for more than two years. Russia used AI to create fake news websites and Fake social accounts fuel Russia’s propaganda interests, offset Ukraine’s power, and influence the judgment of American voters.

New legal documents reveal Russian espionage known as The Good Old USA Project, run by Moscow-based tech company Social Design Agency. The goal of the plan is to interfere with the U.S. presidential election and use online communities to help Trump be elected. The target groups are ethnic minorities, online gambling gamers, and voters in swing states.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said: The Department of Justice seized 32 Internet domain names that were secretly deployed to spread foreign forces to maliciously influence the U.S. presidential election and demonstrated that Russia remains a major threat to the United States.

The espionage activity code-named Doppelgänger was first exposed by the French intelligence unit and targeted European media such as Le Parisien, Le Monde, Le Figaro, FAZ, and Der Spiegel. Hackers used the articles and names of these real news websites to create "copycat" websites that were almost identical, and even used a method called Typosquatting to graft the content into the real official website. The French authorities obtained a large number of copycat articles that boosted Russia's momentum. The altered original text was identified as Russian espionage.

The "deployment" of Silicon Valley technology giants

Meta recently issued an injunction announcing that RT’s parent company Rossiya Segodnya and related organizations and companies must not interfere in or participate in overseas activities on Instagram and Threads. The Kremlin responded that Meta was smearing itself and jeopardizing normal business relations between the United States and Russia. Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, emphasized in the public hearing that Meta protects not just the U.S. election, but elections around the world. Meta is very confident that this year’s presidential election will perform better.

Senator Warner did not buy Meta's argument. He pointed out that most of Russia's malicious information activities were paid advertisements to spread the information. Meta should have better controls in screening advertisers.

Alphabet's general counsel Kent Walker said at a public hearing on Google's deployment of information warfare that Google is committed to reviewing and identifying problematic accounts, especially those related to election ads. However, Warner immediately slapped him in the face and said that he had confirmed with the Treasury Department that Google and Meta had been allowing Russian influence to influence the United States, and that they were using Google and Meta's advertising tools.

Google has taken down and removed nearly 10,000 pieces of content posted by Russia on sites such as YouTube, but Warner stressed that this is not enough and that the U.S. Congress needs to know data on how many American viewers have been affected.

The rise of the extreme right in Europe, Trump's new biography Save America revealing his relationship with Putin, and the recent arrest of the founder of Telegram in France, all remind people of the Kremlin's deep-rooted plan for the US election. The spies involved in the "Clone" activity are called Actors. It seems that technology companies cannot control the performances of so many active actors on social media. The large number of paid advertisements also makes it difficult for technology companies to resist the huge financial aid.

For speculators who are keen on virtual currencies, the news has confirmed that false information campaigns also target speculators who like gambling with advertisements. You should keep your mind clear and do not be hypnotized by online messages and make unnecessary investments. Return.

In the face of the infiltration and attack of false information, in addition to the self-discipline of the industry and the control of the government, the most important thing is to improve the self-judgment of the audience. The answer to whether the United States has breached many Russian spy units before the election will ultimately help the election will be revealed.

This article The U.S. Senate warns the technology industry to prevent Russian disinformation attacks: You may be surrounded by actors. It first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.