The Associated Press reported that social media videos produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people's names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
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- 3 support4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
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Deadline: White HouseOct 28, 2026
The AP's October 28, 2026 report says social media videos believed to be produced with AI and linked to Russia are misusing real people's names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates (Sherrod Brown and James Talarico). The claim matches the passage's quote, and independent reporting from PolitiFact and NPR corroborates the Russia-linked campaign.
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What was said
… We'll spend more time on that. We'll show you what Russia is doing to interfere in our elections, um an influence campaign, if you will, on the other side of a short break. Don't go anywhere. We're back with Liz and Michelle. So, Liz, the Associated Press reported this last night: quote Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people's names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates. One of the targets is Sherrod Brown. A video, which appears to include some AI manipulation, depicts a newscast and includes pictures of Haya Akhbari, who interned for Brown several years ago, and other former staff members. …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The AP article states that social media videos believed to be produced with AI and linked to Russia are misusing real people's names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates.[1]
Supports. PolitiFact reports that the false videos targeting Democrats in Texas and Ohio are linked to Storm-1516, a Russian influence campaign, based on researcher attributions.[2]
Supports. NPR reports that Russian operatives used AI-manipulated videos and fake posts against a Democratic Senate candidate, attributed to Storm-1516 by multiple research groups.[3]
Context. The AP-syndicated versions of the story (Yahoo, Winnipeg Free Press, Economic Times, ClickOrlando) repeat the same wording and are not independent corroboration on their own.[4][5][6][7]
Context. Haya Akbik, the former Brown intern whose photo appears in the video, told the AP the claims attributed to her are 'completely made up.'[1]
Sources
7 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated, 1 rated low
- 1Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, target Senate ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Russian influence operation linked to attacks targeting ...politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Russia steps up election influence efforts ahead of midterms - NPRnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting ...clickorlando.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 5Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidateswinnipegfreepress.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 7Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidates - The Economic Timeseconomictimes.indiatimes.com · rated low for factual reporting by Iffy.news · cited for: context
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