Advertising
Supported by
According to experts, fake news represents a technological breakthrough in the Kremlin’s efforts to generate false and misleading narratives.
By Steven Lee Myers
In the exhausted field of journalism in the United States, a handful of Internet sites have popped up in recent weeks with names that suggest news close to home: D. C. Weekly, New York News Daily, Chicago Chronicle and a more recent sister publication, the Miami Chronicle.
In fact, they are not local news outlets at all. They are Russian creations, researchers and government officials say, meant to mimic genuine news agencies to publicize Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it with a bizarre mix of stories about crime, politics and culture.
While Russia has long sought tactics to influence public discourse in the United States, fake news (at least five so far) represents a technological leap in its efforts to locate new platforms to lie to unsuspecting American readers. According to researchers and officials, those sites would likely shape the foundations of an online network poised to spread disinformation in the run-up to the U. S. presidential election in November.
Patrick Warren, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, which has denounced Russia’s stealthy disinformation efforts, said advances in synthetic intelligence and other virtual teams have “made this possible and content even more targeted. “
The Miami Chronicle’s online page first gave that impression on Feb. 26. Its slogan falsely claims to have broadcast “the Florida News since 1937. “
Among some truthful reports, the site last week published an article about a “leaked audio recording” of Victoria Nuland, U. S. assistant secretary of state for political affairs, talking about a U. S. shift for the beleaguered Russian opposition after the Russian dissident’s death. Alexei A. Navalny. La recording is fake, according to the directorate’s officials, who would only speak anonymously to discuss intelligence matters.
We are retrieving the content of the article.
Please allow javascript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience as we determine access. If you’re in Reader mode, log out and log in to your Times account or subscribe to the full Times.
Thank you for your patience as we determine access.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
Want all the Times? Subscribe.
Advertising