Entities
View all entitiesIncident Stats
Risk Subdomain
4.1. Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
Risk Domain
- Malicious Actors & Misuse
Entity
Human
Timing
Post-deployment
Intent
Intentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
A dozen years ago, John Mark Dougan, a former deputy sheriff in Palm Beach County, Fla., sent voters an email posing as a county commissioner, urging them to oppose the re-election of the county's sheriff.
He later masqueraded online as a R…

More than 150 fake local news websites pushing Russian propaganda to U.S. audiences are connected to John Mark Dougan, an American former law enforcement officer living in Moscow, according to a research report published Wednesday by NewsGu…

Call it a tale of Russian propaganda, international intrigue and pink slime. The New York Times today has a fascinating story (free link) about John Mark Dougan, a former law-enforcement official in Florida and Maine who has become a signif…
This article, originally posted in Japanese on 09:20 May 31, 2024, may contains some machine-translated parts.
A campaign is underway to spread Russian propaganda from fake news sites with names that purport to be local news organizations i…
There is a campaign underway to spread Russian propaganda from fake news sites with names that pose as local news organizations in the United States, such as "DC Weekly," "New York News Daily," and "Boston Times." It has been pointed out th…
Mike Gauger tried to tell us.
When ex-Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy turned Russian tool John Mark Dougan was still whetting his teeth on local cyber lies, Mike Gauger was his favorite target.
And Gauger's wife.
And Gauger's child.
It t…

The leading AI chatbots are regurgitating Russian misinformation, according to a NewsGuard report shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: Users turning to chatbots for reliable information and quick answers to all their questions are findi…

OpenAI, Meta and 8 Other Chatbots Use Disinformation Network as Source Rashmi Ramesh (rashmiramesh_) • June 19, 2024
Popular artificial intelligence chatbots are rife with Russian disinformation, warns NewsGuard, the rating system f…
)
Leading generative AI models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are reportedly repeating Russian misinformation, according to a study by news monitoring service NewsGuard.
This revelation comes amid growing concerns about AI’s role in disseminati…

A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation that is increasingly targeting the US election, a BBC investigation can reveal.
A former Florida pol…
But how tempting is this piece of news: Olena Zelenska, the wife of the Ukrainian president, bored in Paris during the D-Day commemorations would have taken advantage of the situation to order a 4.5 million euro Bugatti Tourbillon, paying f…
«Olena Zelenska bought a Bugatti with aid money to Ukraine». This fake news, which has been making the rounds on the web in recent days and has been relaunched by thousands of users on social media, has all the perfect ingredients: there is…
On July 1, 2024, the news appeared on the French website Vérité Cachée
information reference
"Hidden Truth" in French.
--- Olena Zelenska bought a Bugatti car for €4.5 million. The news was picked up and circulated by the Russian and Bela…
Hundreds of fake media outlets have proliferated in recent months, disinformation researchers say, outnumbering American newspaper sites in a trend that is eroding trust in traditional media as the White House race intensifies.
The fake sit…
"It happened on the corner of Post and Jones Streets. We were crossing and a car came out from behind a parked van. Post Street is a one-way street, so we weren't expecting anyone to come from that side. Mom reacted quickly and jumped back,…

A new Seattle Tribune article has it all: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Adolf Hitler, and a $15 million classic car. Unsurprisingly, it quickly spread across Russian state media.
However, the topic of the news seems odd for this “…

Russian disinformation groups likely orchestrated baseless claims targeting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, falsely accusing the vice presidential candidate of sexually assaulting his students while he was a high school teacher, according to asses…
A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin's most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets …


A former cop with a checkered past in Maine and Florida is pumping out disinformation targeting Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign from Russia.
That’s according to more than 150 documents leaked to The Washington Post, which the newspaper…
Russian spies hired an ex-US marine to spread fake news aimed at smearing the Harris campaign that likely included rumours Tim Walz groped his former students, it has been revealed.
John Mark Dougan, a former county sheriff's deputy in Flor…

A former Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy is under investigation for allegedly collaborating with Russian military intelligence to spread misinformation about Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.
John Mark Dougan, who attended high sch…

A former Florida sheriff, John Mark Dougan, has become a key figure in a Russian disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the 2024 U.S. presidential election. According to European intelligence records, Dougan, who now resides in Russia…
We are launching The Dougan Russian Disinformation Depository to give a name, a face, a personality, a personal modus operandi, and a personal history to the sometimes nebulous phenomenon of Russian disinformation.
John Mark Dougan, a for…

Russian, Iranian, and Chinese trolls are all ramping up their US election disinformation efforts ahead of November 5, but – aside from undermining faith in the democratic process and confidence in the election result – with very different o…
In the final days before Tuesday's vote, Russia abandoned any pretense that it was not trying to interfere in the American presidential election.
The Kremlin's information warriors not only produced a late wave of fabricated videos that tar…

A fake American “media outlet” posted a story about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buying Adolf Hitler’s car — and it was widely shared in Russian media. The website for the “media outlet” (apparently trying to copy a renowned Seat…

America’s adversaries did not significantly affect the results of the 2024 U.S. elections — but not for lack of trying. Russia, Iran, and China waged aggressive influence operations targeting America’s political system, but America proved r…
From a baseless claim about Haitians eating pets that reached the presidential debate podium, to AI-generated fabrications depicting Disney World in Orlando, Florida, inundated by Hurricane Milton, NewsGuard's team of global analysts saw no…
BERLIN, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Fact-checking firm Newsguard and German investigative outlet Correctiv said on Thursday they had identified a cluster of Russia-linked websites that were spreading false stories in an apparent bid to sway Germany'…

Fact-checking firm NewsGuard and investigative website Correctiv said Thursday they have identified a group of Russian-linked websites spreading false information to influence the German parliamentary elections scheduled for February.
A joi…
Russian-linked online disinformation networks are spreading faked spy agency warnings of terrorist attacks in Germany ahead of this month's election in an apparent attempt to sow fear and depress voter turnout, cybersecurity experts say.
Th…
BERLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Russian-linked online disinformation networks are spreading faked spy agency warnings of terrorist attacks in Germany ahead of this month's election in an apparent attempt to sow fear and depress voter turnout, cy…
A wave of fake news has targeted German politics and they almost always have the same goal: to create uncertainty, even chaos, in an attempt to strengthen the extreme wings. There is a week to go until the elections and the vote in Germany …
Executive Summary
US Citizen John Dougan works for Russia to promote Moscow's narratives abroad. He previously served in the U.S. military and was employed in the US law enforcement sector. However, after leaking information of various publ…