Imagine scrolling through your social feed and stumbling upon a video with the familiar CNN logo, a well-known actor’s face, and a caption that makes you do a double take. The celebrity looks straight into the camera and says something shocking: that all Democrats are criminals and that you should not vote for them. It feels like a leaked broadcast, a moment of truth, or maybe a celebrity finally saying what they really think. But it is none of those things. According to the Bot Blocker project, a group that tracks coordinated disinformation, this is the work of the “Matryoshka” network, a Russian-linked influence operation that launched a fresh campaign ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. The name Matryoshka is not accidental; it is a direct reference to the famous Russian nesting dolls, those wooden figures that hide smaller versions of themselves inside. The name suggests layers of deception, each one revealing another falsehood when peeled back. In this case, the network produced and distributed videos urging voters not to support Democratic Party candidates. Bot Blocker said it detected four posts on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on a single Thursday, and those posts contained a total of ten videos. The videos were not clumsy or amateurish; they were crafted to look like credible news clips, complete with a major television network’s branding. They were designed to be shared, believed, and, most importantly, to make people question the integrity of the electoral process.
What makes these videos particularly disturbing is how they were made. Some of the footage was not fabricated at all. It was real video recorded by celebrities for Cameo, the popular service where fans pay famous people to send personalized video messages. The people appearing in these clips likely had no idea their recordings would be repurposed for political propaganda. In other cases, the network used synthetic voices that closely resembled the celebrities’ real voices, creating an eerie sense of authenticity. Among the names exploited in this campaign were Sarah Jessica Parker, Christopher Lloyd, and Julia Roberts. The videos all carried the CNN logo, adding a layer of fake journalistic credibility, and they promoted the hashtag #AllDemocratsAreCriminals. On X, the posts appeared to perform reasonably well, drawing between 44,000 and 62,000 views each. But Bot Blocker was quick to point out that these numbers were almost certainly inflated by artificial methods. The network uses bots and automated accounts to boost engagement, making the content look far more popular than it actually is. The same videos were also shared on Bluesky, an alternative social platform, and there they received almost no traction—no more than one like or save. This contrast is a telling detail. It suggests that the apparent virality on X was manufactured, not organic, and that the network is testing new platforms while relying on familiar manipulation tactics.
The Matryoshka network has a signature playbook, and understanding it is key to seeing through its tactics. Typically, the network first creates fake photos or videos designed to provoke an emotional reaction. Then, accounts linked to the network post links to these fabricated items, often urging journalists to verify their authenticity. At first glance, this might seem like an attempt to get the truth out, but it is actually a trap. When journalists investigate, they often write fact-checking articles that include screenshots, descriptions, or embedded clips of the fake content. This gives the disinformation a second life, exposing it to audiences who would never have seen the original post. In this way, the network uses the media’s own commitment to truth as a distribution channel. The fake content is laundered through legitimate news organizations, gaining visibility and a veneer of importance. The Matryoshka network has used this same strategy in other countries, including Germany, Hungary, and Armenia, adapting its messages to local political contexts. The name Matryoshka perfectly captures this layered deception: each falsehood contains another, and the process of uncovering one lie only reveals another. The ultimate goal is not simply to change a few votes; it is to poison the entire information environment, making people believe that no source can be trusted and that everything they see might be a lie.
The timing of this campaign is significant because the U.S. midterm elections are a moment of enormous political vulnerability. The report notes that Americans would elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate, and the governors of 36 states. Depending on the outcome, the Republican Party could retain or lose control of Congress, which would have a profound impact on the president’s agenda. The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of attempting to interfere in American elections, and this campaign fits a well-established pattern. The videos specifically target Democratic candidates, urging viewers not to support them. In a midterm election, where voter turnout often drops compared to presidential elections, even a small amount of confusion or disillusionment can make a difference. A voter who sees a fake video of Julia Roberts saying that Democrats are criminals might stay home on election day, or might share the video with friends, spreading the message further. The fake CNN logo is not a minor detail; it is a deliberate attempt to borrow the credibility of a major news organization. The hashtag #AllDemocratsAreCriminals is designed to trend, to become a talking point, and to find its way into partisan media coverage. Even if the videos are quickly debunked, the emotional impact lingers. The disinformation does not have to be believable to be effective; it only has to be memorable.
For ordinary Americans, this is deeply unsettling. Social media was supposed to bring people together, but it has become a battleground where foreign actors can weaponize trust. A personalized video from a celebrity is an intimate thing; it feels like a direct message from someone you admire. When that moment is hijacked and twisted into political propaganda, it feels like a betrayal, not only of the celebrity but of the viewer. The Matryoshka campaign exploits the very features that make social media appealing: authenticity, familiarity, and speed. It also exploits the professionalism of journalists, using their fact-checking work as a vehicle for amplification. This is an asymmetric fight. Creating a fake video is cheap and quick, while debunking it requires time, resources, and careful investigation. Civil society groups like Bot Blocker are working to expose these operations, and their findings are valuable, but they are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content. Platforms like X and Bluesky also have a responsibility to detect and remove coordinated inauthentic behavior, but they are often one step behind. The low engagement on Bluesky suggests that the network is still learning how to manipulate that platform, but it is probably only a matter of time before it adapts. The public, too, must become more skeptical, pausing before sharing videos that confirm their biases and checking whether the source is credible. In the end, the fight against disinformation is not just a technical challenge; it is a test of whether democratic societies can maintain a shared sense of reality.
The broader context makes this even more troubling. The report also included unrelated news briefs that illustrate the chaotic global information landscape: Trump’s statement that the Houthis had declared their readiness to halt attacks in the Red Sea, a previous Houthi attack targeting Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, and a joint U.S.-British operation against Houthi targets in Yemen. These stories seem disconnected from the midterm election, but they are part of the same noisy, fragmented media environment in which disinformation thrives. The Matryoshka network is not an isolated phenomenon; it is part of a larger pattern of influence operations that have been conducted in countries around the world. The same techniques used to target American voters have been used in Germany, Hungary, and Armenia. The same playbook could be deployed in any election, anywhere. The Matryoshka name is a warning: what looks like a simple video is only the outermost layer of a much larger operation. Behind it are coordinated accounts, inflated metrics, stolen images, synthetic voices, and a strategic goal. The best defense is not censorship but awareness. People must learn to recognize the signs of manipulation, journalists must report on disinformation without amplifying it, and platforms must invest in detecting bot networks and removing fake content. None of this is easy, and none of it is perfect. But the alternative is a world where no one knows what is real, where trust is impossible, and where elections are decided not by voters but by the most convincing illusion. The midterm campaign may end, but the fight for trust will continue long after the votes are counted.