A false claim that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a June 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed was created by a Russian troll farm, according to a report released Tuesday by Microsoft.
The report by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center said the fabricated story was created by a Kremlin-aligned group, dubbed Storm-1516, one of several Russian disinformation networks that Microsoft says is targeting the Harris-Walz campaign in the lead-up to November’s presidential election.
The hit-and-run claim surfaced in early September on a website masquerading as a local San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV. A five-minute video embedded in the article featured a woman speaking about the alleged incident. Microsoft’s report said the woman was a paid actor. The website was created on Aug. 20 and went offline days after it published the claims.
CBS News debunked the hit-and-run story when it first emerged; public records and news reports showed no evidence of the incident. The San Francisco Police Department told CBS News it did not have records of it. A CBS News analysis of a video that accompanied the article found it contained several photos from other unrelated news stories.
The story spread widely on social media; posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that featured the article and video amassed more than 7 million views, and the story was also shared on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Pro-Russian channels on Telegram, the popular messaging app European officials are investigating for alleged criminal activity on the platform, also amplified the claims.
Researchers at Microsoft said a newer Kremlin-aligned group, Storm-1679, also published videos aimed at discrediting Harris, including one that depicted a fake New York City billboard with false claims about Harris’ policies.
Russia continues to use cyber groups to “amplify their messages through media websites and social channels geared to spread divisive political content, staged videos, and AI-enhanced propaganda,” Microsoft said.
The campaigns follow a pattern of targeting the Democratic candidate within 90 days of a presidential election, according to Microsoft’s observations from three consecutive elections.
CBS News has reached out to the Russian Embassy in the U.S. for comment but has not heard back.
The report also outlined Chinese-linked influence operations by a group dubbed Storm-1852, which it said has created online personas masquerading as conservative U.S. voters voting for former President Donald Trump. The group has also created content critical of Trump, Microsoft said.
Microsoft has published several reports on covert influence operations by countries ahead of the U.S. presidential elections. An August report said Iran is behind cyber attacks targeting U.S. institutions and candidates, as well as news sites masquerading as local outlets in different states.
Meta said late Monday the company is banning Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to “foreign interference activity.” The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state-run outlet of funneling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.
