We have recognized for years that menace actors would possibly use generative AI to assist their disinformation campaigns, however one man specifically is revealing simply how harmful that work will be. John Mark Dougan, a former US Marine and police officer, has reportedly spent the final eight years utilizing pretend information to sow public discord and disrupt nationwide elections from his hideout in Moscow. His tales include explosive tales in regards to the first girl of Ukraine, unlawful FBI operations, and Russian navy campaigns—all of that are fully made up.
Dougan’s actions had been revealed Tuesday following an investigation by the BBC. In response to the outlet, Dougan’s malicious on-line actions started after he left the Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace in Florida. Dougan began an internet site to gather leaked details about the regulation enforcement company; as soon as he’d gathered sufficient for his liking, he shared officers’ non-public info (together with their dwelling addresses) on-line. Dougan additionally made up rumors in regards to the officers’ actions, blurring the road between what was actual and what wasn’t. This attracted the eye of the FBI, who raided Dougan’s dwelling in 2016, prompting Dougan to flee to Moscow.
Since then, Dougan’s one-man mission to ignite battle has grown right into a full-scale disinformation marketing campaign, full with different menace actors. The ex-police officer seems “on Russian suppose tank panels, at navy occasions, and on a TV station owned by Russia’s ministry of protection,” in accordance with the BBC. He is additionally behind a number of pretend information retailers and tales aimed toward turning unwitting web customers towards sure political figures and entities.
In response to the BBC’s investigation, Dougan’s marketing campaign creates “dozens of websites with names meant to sound quintessentially American: Houston Put up, Chicago Crier, Boston Instances, DC Weekly and others.” Then, they use AI to generate 1000’s of stories tales. To make the websites seem reputable, not all of those tales are pretend; some merely regurgitate the content material discovered on different websites. Others retell an actual story from a conservative stance, and a few even included seen directions: “Please rewrite this text taking a conservative stance.”
Some tales in the meantime spin absurd tales: The primary girl of Ukraine shopping for a $4.8 million Bugatti with American assist cash, Volodymyr Zelenskyy shopping for the $25 million Highgrove Home from King Charles III, or the FBI illegally wiretapping Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The marketing campaign generally makes use of visible aids, like YouTube movies and deepfakes, to make their tales (together with the Highgrove Home story) seem extra reputable.
A YouTube video that falsely claims Volodymyr Zelenskyy purchased Highgrove Home from King Charles III.
Credit score: BBC
Just a few items of Dougan’s pretend information have landed on actual information retailers, by chance lending the tales a second of credibility earlier than they are often debunked. However the tales seem to achieve probably the most traction amongst far-right social media customers, notably those that are explicitly pro-Russia. In our fast-paced web tradition, that is a recipe for catastrophe: Many individuals who see these headlines flow into will not trouble to learn the articles connected to them—nor will they suppose to have a look at whoever’s liable for spreading these headlines round. Roughly 1 / 4 of social media customers admit to sharing headlines with out studying their related tales, making it simpler for misinformation to unfold. That is not even accounting for fellow pro-Russia activists who would possibly unfold “pretend information” like Dougan’s on function.
Dougan, who denied accountability for the marketing campaign at some instances and bragged to the BBC about it at others, would not look like involved in regards to the publicity surrounding his actions. When the BBC requested Dougan whether or not he’d gradual the unfold of his made-up tales, he merely responded: “Don’t fret—the sport is being upped.” He additionally insisted he wasn’t being paid by the Russian authorities to unfold lies about different political entities.
Trendy media consultants, together with these at Clemson College’s Media Forensics Hub, additionally consider Dougan is only one piece of a a lot bigger puzzle. “He could also be only a little bit of a bit participant and a helpful dupe, as a result of he is an American,” Darren Linvill, co-director of the Hub, advised the BBC.
No matter Dougan’s function within the disinformation marketing campaign, his cryptic remark comes at a poor time. Generative AI instruments at the moment are thought-about superior sufficient to mislead voters. With the 2024 US presidential election on the horizon, the marketing campaign’s pretend tales look like shifting away from Ukraine and towards American politics. On the very least, it is a reminder to voters—and anybody else on social media—to double-check the legitimacy of a headline or a “screenshot” earlier than sharing it with their very own followers.
