Operation Doppelganger
A Russian influence campaign that cloned legitimate Western news websites to spread Kremlin-aligned narratives, making disinformation appear to come from trusted media outlets.
What we know
Operation Doppelganger is among the most sophisticated Russian disinformation campaigns documented to date. Active since at least May 2022, it was operated by two Russian companies directly funded and tasked by the Kremlin: the Social Design Agency (SDA) and Structura National Technology. A third entity, ANO Dialog, provided additional coordination. All three organizations were connected to Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration, establishing a direct link between the operation and the highest levels of the Russian state.
The campaign's signature technique was domain spoofing: creating websites with URLs nearly identical to trusted outlets such as washingtonpost.pm, bbc-uk.net, or spiegel.de.com. Estimates of the number of cloned sites range from 70 to over 700. Content on these sites was generated using AI tools and then amplified by bot networks and paid advertising on social media platforms to bypass organic reach limitations.
The documented financial and operational scale is substantial. In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice seized 32 internet domains used by SDA and Structura. Between January and April 2024 alone, just four months, the Doppelganger network distributed approximately 40,000 content items and 33.9 million comments globally. Strategic targets included the 2024 European Parliament elections, the U.S. 2024 election cycle, and the Paris Olympic Games. The UK sanctioned SDA, Structura, and three senior figures in October 2024, with the Foreign Office noting that SDA had attempted to incite anti-Ukraine protests in at least six European countries. Canada, the EU, and the UK all issued coordinated statements condemning the operation.
Common claims
- Russia created fake websites impersonating major Western news outlets.Supported
- Doppelganger websites were easy to identify as fakes.Misleading
- The operation was fully shut down after DOJ seizures.Not supported