00:00Come was Euronews impersonati in a Winter Olympics disinformation campaign?
00:08These look just like Euronews reports about the Winter Olympics in Milano, Cortina.
00:13But they are fakes.
00:15At least five videos got thousands of views on X and Telegram
00:18by impersonating Euronews over the course of the Games.
00:22The clips use Euronews graphics and branding
00:25but feature altered voiceovers and music that do not belong to Euronews.
00:30One video makes the bold and false claim that a Ukrainian refugee
00:33robbed a Euronews crew at Milano, Cortina.
00:36Another alleges a Ukrainian interpreter fled the Ukrainian delegation
00:40becoming the 52nd to do so.
00:43Other fake reports mix genuine Olympic events with fabricated allegations
00:47including claims that Ukrainians committed vandalism
00:50or booked up all of the accommodation in Milan.
00:53There is no evidence to support these claims.
00:56Researchers from the collective Antibot for Navalny
00:58say the videos are part of a large-scale Russian disinformation campaign.
01:02Their analysis shows at least 35 fake videos impersonating media brands
01:07and research organizations such as E! News and Eurostat.
01:11At least one false video impersonating the Canadian network CBC News reached 1 million views.
01:16This campaign is often dubbed Matryoshka and has been linked by researchers to the Kremlin.
01:21The operation relies on impersonating official news organizations
01:24and research bodies to give way to false claims.
01:27There are recurring narratives and false stories spread by the network
01:30which include presenting Ukrainians as aggressive and criminal
01:33while also taking aim at the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky.
01:37But it's not the first time the network has targeted Euronews or the Olympics.
01:41Researchers uncovered a similar campaign around the Paris 2024 Olympics
01:45that spread false claims about Olympic organizers and French president Emmanuel Macron.
01:49Compared to this, the Milan effort is smaller in scale
01:51and focused only on Ukrainian athletes and refugees.
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