The US Department of Justice restricted access to the domains of 32 fake sites that spread Russian propaganda. Among them were clones of such well-known publications as Der Spiegel, Reuters, Bild, Le Monde and the Washington Post.
Points of attention
- The US Department of Justice has blocked 32 fake sites that spread Russian propaganda.
- Russian companies created clone sites and used them to support pro-Russian politics and interfere in the US election process.
- The withdrawal of domains and the introduction of sanctions indicate that Russia remains the main external threat to the electoral processes in the United States.
The USA blocked 32 fake sites of Russian propagandists
The Ministry of Justice confiscated domains of resources that spread Kremlin narratives. These portals belonged to three Russian companies.
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the ongoing seizure of 32 Internet domains used in Russian government-directed foreign influence campaigns, colloquially known as "doppelgangers," in violation of U.S. anti-money laundering and criminal trademark laws.
The US seized the domains of sites belonging to the Russian companies ANO Dialog, Social Design Agency (SDA) and Structura National Technology (Structura).
Duplicate sites were used to influence the US presidential election.
Among the goals of the work of these resources is also the reduction of international support for Ukraine and the support of pro-Russian policy.
The Department's seizure of 32 Internet domains that were covertly used to spread foreign malicious influence demonstrates once again that Russia remains the top foreign threat to our elections, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Russian companies created clone sites of popular publications in the US and Europe, and promoted their narratives through them. Also, for the same purpose, the pages of these publications in social networks were faked.
Propagandists made clones of such sites as the Washington Post, Le Monde, Bild, Der Spiegel and Reuters.
The Ministry of Justice also designated ten individuals and two organizations that were added to the US sanctions list a day earlier.
It is about the decision to introduce restrictions against RT editor Margarita Simonyan, her deputies and other propagandists due to interference in the US presidential election.
The states introduced sanctions against Simonyan
The Biden administration announced restrictions on the Russian state media network RT. Its editor-in-chief is propagandist Margarita Simonyan.
The sanctions against RT were imposed as part of a coordinated response by the US government to Moscow's attempts to influence the course of elections in the United States.
According to a report by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Russian propagandists recruited American influencers to spread Kremlin narratives.
RT, public platforms "Dialog" and "Dialog Regions" were blacklisted due to disinformation, use of deepfakes. The latter were created with the help of artificial intelligence.
American intelligence previously warned that the Russian Federation wants to undermine Americans' confidence in the election process.
