Fake news and videos created to undermine Paris Games

Report details Russian propaganda group’s efforts to get people to avoid the Olympics

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With its athletes barred from competing in the Summer Olympics under the country’s flag, Russia has turned its fury on the Games and the 2024 host, Paris.

Russian propagandists have created an hour-long documentary, spoofed news reports and even mimicked French and US intelligence agencies to issue fake warnings urging people to avoid the Games, according to a report released on June 2 by Microsoft.

The report details the disinformation campaign created by a group the company calls Storm-1679. The campaign appears to have accelerated since March, flooding social media with short videos raising alarms about possible terrorist attacks and stoking fears about safety.

The operation, while aimed at the Games, is using various techniques to spread disinformation that could also be employed in European and US elections.

US and French officials have tracked the campaign. One US official said Russian disinformation, spread by the Kremlin via social media, continued to threaten the security of the US and its allies.

The group has also tried to goad fact-checkers into examining its claims, hoping to use the attention to spread the disinformation to new audiences as it is called out.

For months, French officials have focused on the ways Russia could seek to undermine the Games. Hackers affiliated with Russian intelligence disrupted the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and French officials are preparing for more cyber attacks in 2024.

France raised its terrorism warning level after an attack by militant group ISIS in Moscow in March and threats against high-profile soccer matches in Paris. It has also increased security for the Olympics.