The digital battlefield for the American midterm elections has already begun, and its opening salvo is a series of chillingly realistic deepfake videos designed to deceive the public. Russian disinformation operatives have launched a campaign featuring fabricated videos of well-known Hollywood celebrities, seemingly attacking the Democratic Party. These clips, branded with the CNN logo and circulated with inflammatory hashtags, are the first wave in what experts believe is a concerted effort to influence the upcoming vote. The videos are not crude parodies but sophisticated manipulations, using stolen footage and voice-cloning technology to put words into the mouths of actors, creating a surreal and disturbing spectacle where beloved figures appear to endorse extreme political views. This marks a significant escalation in the ongoing information war, signaling a new and dangerous phase of election interference.
The content of these synthetic videos is deliberately provocative, aiming to capitalize on existing political divisions. One manipulated clip shows actress Alyson Hannigan, star of “How I Met Your Mother,” with a cloned voice declaring that “not a single child” is safe from Democrats. Another features a doctored video of actress Emma Caulfield, known for her role in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” making the bizarre claim that Democrats “drink our blood.” A third fabricates a video of Sarah Jessica Parker calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Democrats “Nazis.” The creators have pulled these clips from various sources—one even uses footage from a 2023 Gucci campaign featuring Julia Roberts—demonstrating a disregard for the authenticity of the source material. All are crafted to be easily shareable, designed to exploit anger and social media engagement, and their dissemination across platforms is being amplified by coordinated bot networks to maximize reach and impact.
The reaction from the victims of this digital identity theft is one of shock, anger, and a profound sense of violation. Emma Caulfield, upon seeing the fabricated video using her likeness, expressed feeling deeply violated, dismissing her digital doppelganger as a “soulless idiot.” Actor Ed Begley Jr., whose Cameo video was altered to depict him calling Democrats “perverts,” was also unaware of the manipulation, and he felt compelled to publicly denounce the content, stating, “I want to say on record that I wholeheartedly disagree with everything that the video says.” Eric Roberts, who found his own Cameo footage distorted over transgender issues, was similarly troubled, emphasizing that the statements “are not my words and do not represent my beliefs.” A CNN spokesperson also issued a statement objecting to the “unauthorized” use of the network’s branding, clarifying that the videos are “not CNN content and have no affiliation.” These testimonials highlight the deep personal distress caused by such attacks, as well as the reputational damage inflicted on the media organizations whose logos are hijacked for authenticity.
Disinformation researchers have identified this operation as the work of Matryoshka, also known as Operation Overload, a known Kremlin campaign infamous for flooding social media with doctored videos that impersonate news outlets. The operation’s signature method is to create fabricated content, amplify it using a network of fake accounts and bots, and then let the resulting online frenzy do the rest of the work. Darren Linvill, an expert from Clemson University, calls this “the first salvo” in Russia’s targeting of the November vote. He notes that Russia has mounted social media campaigns in every US election since 2016, and this latest effort was fully expected. The online collective Antibot4navalny first connected the deepfakes to Matryoshka, pointing to the familiar pattern of distribution and amplification. The tactics themselves are not novel. Analyst Pablo Maristany de las Casas from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue points out that the use of Cameo videos and cloned voices is a method they have previously deployed in European elections, from Germany to Hungary to Armenia. The strategies are being refined and adapted for an American audience.
The timing of this disinformation campaign is far from coincidental. It is a calculated move to set the narrative for the race, targeting issues that are meant to be divisive—such as transgender rights and support for Ukraine—in an attempt to sow discord and amplify political polarization. While the immediate impact of these particular videos may be limited, especially as platforms like X, Bluesky, and TikTok have begun removing the posts, their ultimate goal is to chip away at public trust in democratic processes and institutions. The creation of a polluted information environment, filled with convincing fakes, makes it harder for voters to know what is real and what is not. By muddying the waters with a stream of sensational yet false claims, the campaign seeks to create widespread confusion and disillusionment, a cynical strategy designed to undermine faith in the entire electoral process regardless of the outcome. That is the true insidiousness of the attack: it doesn’t just seek to change a vote, but to delegitimize the entire system.
As the election draws closer, this operation appears to be ramping up its activity, suggesting this is only the beginning. Researchers have already spotted other fabricated CNN reports smearing Democratic candidates in specific races, such as Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico. This indicates a strategy of targeting not just national figures but also down-ballot candidates in key races. Furthermore, the group Antibot4navalny has alerted authorities to additional inauthentic videos aimed at discrediting the very fact-checkers who are trying to debunk the initial wave of deepfakes, demonstrating a sophisticated effort to counter-narrate the story. The battle is no longer just about creating lies; it’s about creating lies about the truth-tellers. This multi-layered approach, from the original fabrication to the attempts to suppress the correction, showcases a complex and well-resourced disinformation ecosystem. As the midterms approach, the situation is a stark reminder that the challenge is not just technological, but fundamentally about the resilience of our information ecosystem and the ability of democratic societies to defend themselves against this form of covert, digital warfare.