Microsoft says Russia’s election interference efforts have pivoted to Harris and Walz

Russia is using fake videos and phony social media accounts to target Vice President Kamala Harris as the U.S. presidential election draws closer, according to a new report from Microsoft.

The Kremlin’s influence operations "initially struggled to pivot operations aimed at the Democratic campaign following President Biden’s departure from the US 2024 presidential race" in July, researchers at Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center wrote. But starting in August, influence campaigns the company has been tracking began to churn out content about Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

"The shift to focusing on the Harris-Walz campaign reflects a strategic move by Russian actors aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates," Clint Watts, the general manager of the Threat Analysis Center, wrote in a blog post accompanying the report.

In recent weeks, the U.S. government has stepped up its efforts to call out and disrupt Russian influence operations targeting American voters that intelligence officials say are aimed at helping former President Donald Trump regain the White House.

The Microsoft report identified a number of recent Russia-linked campaigns that have shifted focus to Harris. That included a baseless claim accusing Harris of being involved in a hit-and-run in 2011 that was spread via a website claiming to be a local San Francisco TV station. The article was accompanied by a video in which a woman, whom Microsoft identified as an actor, claimed to be the victim of the crash. There is no evidence any such incident occurred, and the purported TV station does not exist.

Microsoft said the video and its laundering through a sham news site was consistent with the tactics of an