CLEMSON, S.C. — The Russian propaganda agency Storm-1516 fabricated a report that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz assaulted a Mankato teenager 27 years ago when he was a high school teacher, according to an expert on deepfake disinformation. Darren Linvill, codirector at Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, said he immediately recognized the footprint of Storm-1516. So have other intelligence experts who were interviewed by the high-tech Silicon Valley magazine Wired. Experts immediately recognized sloppy editing typical of Storm1516 – a tell-tail cursor in one screenshot that didn’t belong. Other telltale clues included a date-time overlay in a Storm-1516 style. “There is little doubt this is Storm-1516,” said Linvill. Also, he said, is standard practice for Strom-1516 to create an X or YouTube account for initial placement of stories. Linville said that Storm-1516 goal is to suck other parties into reposing disinformation. The “seed” worked with the deepfaked Walz post. Among those suckered into citing it as gospel was Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance. Walz, of course, is the Democrat running for the vice presidency. It’s believed that Storm-1516 and other Russisan agencies have planted at least 50 false narratives aimed at U.S. readers since last fall to tilt the 2024 U.S. election in favor Donald Trump. Most are outlandish on their on their face but nonetheless pick up traction among gullible readers who revel in dark conspiratorial tales as well as mal-intentioed people. One recent deep-faked account claimed falsely that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris arranged a hit-and-run scenario in San Francisco in 2011 when she was California’s attorney genera..
Storm-1516 profile
The Russian propagandist group Storm-1516, based in St. Petersburg, creates and spreads online disinformation to further Russian global interests. It’s one of several Russian agencies that produce videos with paid actors and fake personages thatae are manufactured through artificial intelligence. Storm-1516’s existence was discovered by media forensic scholars at Clemson University in 2023. Some U.S. emigres are key players, according to U.S. intelligence experts at Clemson and elsewhere. The agency is one of several offshoots of Russia’s former Internet Research Agency whose propaganda advanced Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.