Media and Disinformation Update #12
Chinese AI, Elon Musk, Middle East oil
If you find this newsletter of value, click the ❤️ above 🙏🏻☀️Welcome to Edition #12 of perspicacity’s Media and Disinformation Update. This edition features:
the criminal investigation into social media platform X by French prosecutors on allegations of its manipulation by owner Elon Musk for ‘foreign interference’
the AI-enabled impersonation of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that sent fake text and voice messages to senior officials and foreign governments
the proliferation of false, pro-Beijing narratives by Chinese AI models and its implications for the global mainstreaming of Chinese propaganda
the Middle East oil interests pushing false environment narratives to undermine international efforts to tackle climate change
the Russian disinformation campaign targeting Armenia with a fabricated narrative about US-backed biolabs conducting secret military experiments on civilians
perspicacity is committed to fact-based reporting that meets the highest standards of journalistic integrity. No content is AI-generated. To access the full stories summarised below, click on the headline.
CANADA
AI-generated news channels spread election fraud and separatist narratives in Canada
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 17 July 2025
AI-generated videos on YouTube promoted misleading political content targeting Canadian audiences, sharing narratives about election fraud, political corruption, and Alberta separatism. Despite efforts to rein in the content, the videos had already amassed more than five million views before removal and were shared across Facebook groups, demonstrating how low-effort, AI-generated content can quickly exploit platform algorithms and audience engagement to achieve significant reach.
Related:
Deepfake video of Canadian Prime Minister reaches millions on TikTok, X
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 19 June 2025
CHINA
Chinese AI models register a 60 per cent fail rate in NewsGuard audit of pro-China claims
NewsGuard, 25 July 2025
In both English and Mandarin, the five leading Chinese AI models readily repeated false pro-Beijing claims about Taiwan’s elections, and US-Taiwan relations, including asserting that “Taiwan is a part of China,” and there is “no such thing as a ‘Taiwanese President’.”
The five leading Chinese-backed AI models failed to provide accurate information 60 per cent of the time in response to English and Mandarin language prompts about false narratives promoted by Beijing, a NewsGuard audit found.
The five chatbots have tens of millions of users and operate in multiple languages There is a growing trend of international banks and public universities in the Middle East and Europe to favour Chinese AI models over American counterparts such as ChatGPT, drawn by lower costs and open-source flexibility, raising concerns about the normalisation of censorship and Chinese state propaganda.
US export controls have done little to curtail China’s quest for global AI dominance
The Alan Turing Institute, 9 July 2025
US export controls have had a limited impact on China’s AI development and may have inadvertently stimulated innovation and self-sufficiency, according to this new report. Chinese AI company DeepSeek continues to thrive despite its limited access to advanced US semiconductors.
China’s political leadership views AI as one of several technologies that will enable the country to achieve global strategic dominance, aligned with President Xi Jinping’s long-term strategy of leveraging technology to establish geopolitical strength.
What can open sources reveal about Beijing’s deadly floods?
Bellingcat, 8 August 2025
In early August, Beijing authorities placed all 16 of its districts on high alert in anticipation of torrential rain. More than 40 people have since been confirmed dead, and 80,000 evacuated citywide due to the floods.
A deluge of AI-generated fakes have continued to draw far more views than many genuine eyewitness videos. Searching in English, the results for #beijingflood on YouTube Shorts revealed multiple AI-generated thumbnails, one of which surpassed 18 million views. Shorts containing real footage struggled to climb past 1,000 views.
FRANCE
France launches criminal investigation into Musk’s X over algorithm manipulation
Politico, 11 July 2025
French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into X over allegations that the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk manipulated its algorithms for the purposes of “foreign interference.” Prosecutors are looking into whether the social media giant broke French law by altering its algorithms and fraudulently extracting data from users.
An inquiry was launched in January in which X was accused of spreading “an enormous amount of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+ and homophobic political content, which aims to skew the democratic debate in France.”
MIDDLE EAST
‘Petroleum accounts’ lead disinformation campaign on climate change
Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, 23 July 2025
A string of hashtags has appeared on social media platforms using strategic disinformation and promoting conspiracy theories about climate change. Analysis shows that they were mainly promoted by accounts linked to oil interests in Gulf countries in the Middle East - countries that claim to abide by international climate agreements.
RUSSIA / ARMENIA
Pro-Kremlin actors push multilingual biolab hoax targeting Armenia
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 7 July 2025
A Kremlin-linked disinformation campaign is targeting Armenians with a fabricated narrative about US-backed biolabs conducting secret military experiments on civilians.
Originating from a pro-Kremlin Russian entity linked to the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the false story was quickly disseminated across several platforms. The story was spread in at least seven languages and was republished by both Russian and non-Russian pro-Kremlin actors.
RUSSIA / ITALY
‘They ban the truth, we show it’: Russia’s RT makes a comeback in Italy
NewsGuard, 8 July 2025
Banned in the EU for spreading war propaganda, Russian state-operated propaganda outlet RT has found another way to promote its propaganda in Italy. Thanks to a new campaign involving billboard ads and public screenings of pro-Kremlin documentaries, RT content is now being promoted in major Italian cities including Bologna, Milan, and Rome.
RUSSIA / MOLDOVA
Unveiling the Russian infrastructure supporting the Moldova24 TV channel
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 3 June 2025
Moldova’s information space has become a key battleground for both domestic and foreign actors as the country’s fragile democracy and critical elections make it fertile ground for targeted attacks.
The newly created online broadcaster Moldova24 (MD24) — presented as an independent Moldovan outlet — is directly tied to Russian state-aligned media infrastructure. Hosted in Russia and connected to Kremlin-funded entities like RT and TV Novosti, MD24 operates a network of at least 16 mirror domains and coordinated social media accounts to evade oversight and promote pro-Kremlin narratives.
Russia’s Matryoshka propaganda machine picks new target, pushing 39 false claims against Moldova over past three months
NewsGuard, 15 July 2025
Russian propagandists are flooding the internet with fake claims targeting Moldova in a concerted effort to discredit its pro-EU government ahead of parliamentary elections. Promoting claims including that Moldovan President Maia Sandu embezzled $24 million and that she is addicted to “psychotropic drugs,” one Russian campaign alone targeted Moldova with 39 fabricated stories in just three months, compared to zero in the entire previous year, NewsGuard found.
The stories were spread by a Russian influence operation known as Matryoshka, named after the Russian nesting dolls, which has previously targeted the US 2024 presidential election, the February 2025 German elections, and Ukraine.
The false video reports and articles mimicked 23 legitimate media outlets, including the BBC, The Economist, Fox News, Euronews, and Vogue. Collectively, they gained nearly 2 million views on Telegram.
Related:
Euronews targeted by anti-Moldova disinformation campaign
Euronews, 3 June 2025
RUSSIA / UKRAINE
Digital occupation: Pro-Russian bot networks target Ukraine’s occupied territories on Telegram
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 16 July 2025
As the most popular digital platform in Eastern Europe, Telegram has become the epicenter of Russian efforts to influence perceptions and opinions of local Ukrainian populations.
Russia’s ongoing territorial occupation of Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions is accompanied by an informational and cultural occupation aimed at flooding local social media communities with messaging designed to foster gratitude and loyalty to Russia, undermine the Ukrainian government, and raise doubts about its intentions in territories currently occupied by Russia.
Related:
Manufacturing reality: How pro-Russian TikTok accounts promote Donbas revival
Digital Forensic Research Lab, 21 July 2025
Human Rights Watch, 30 July 2025
UNITED STATES
Government investigates messages impersonating Secretary of State Marco Rubio
New York Times (subscription), 8 July 2025
The State Department is investigating episodes in which one or more people used AI to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio in messages to top foreign diplomats and US officials, according to an official at the agency.
The person or people impersonating Rubio sent text and voice messages, including over the encrypted chat app Signal, to at least five people outside the State Department. The recipients included a governor, a member of Congress and three foreign ministers, according to the cable.
Related:
A Marco Rubio imposter is using AI voice to call high-level officials
Washington Post (subscription), 8 July 2025
Pro-Iran sources claim California is seceding from the Union due to US support for Israel
NewsGuard, 12 August 2025