AIPolicyTracker
Menu

AI incident #929 ·

Sustained AI-Driven Russian Disinformation Campaigns Doppelgänger, Storm-1516, and Matryoshka Reportedly Disrupting German Federal Elections

Open on the AI Incident Database 16 news reports Snapshot 7 Sep 2026

What happened

Leading up to Germany’s February 23, 2025, federal election, the alleged Russian Doppelgänger, Storm-1516, and Matryoshka (Operation Overload) disinformation campaigns have reportedly been deploying AI-generated deepfake videos and fake news sites to spread false claims about German politicians and public figures. AI-powered bots have allegedly been amplifying the content across social media. Researchers suggest the campaign sought to erode trust in Germany’s democratic process. Germany's domest

Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.

News reports (15)

Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.

  1. AI fakes, cyberattacks threaten German election
    dw.com · Janosch Delcker · AIID #4681
  2. Russia-linked AI websites aim to dupe German voters, study finds
    reuters.com · Andrey Sychev · AIID #4872
  3. Network of Russian-linked sites identified to influence German election
    en.belsat.eu · Belsat · AIID #4874
  4. Falsche Tonspur: Tiktok-Videos verkaufen Demos gegen Rechtsextremismus als Proteste für AfD
    correctiv.org · Max Bernhard · AIID #4686
  5. Disinformation Clouds German Federal Election 2025
    evrimagaci.org · Evrim Ağacı · AIID #4687
  6. AI-driven Russian disinformation campaign targets German elections
    euractiv.com · Xhoi Zajmi · AIID #4674
  7. Putin’s bot army tries to swing German election
    politico.eu · Chris Lunday · AIID #4680
  8. Fake TikTok videos show hundreds of thousands marching for AfD in Germany
    euronews.com · Estelle Nilsson-Julien · AIID #4682
  9. Disinformation wave on rise in Germany ahead of elections
    ukrinform.net · Ukrinform · AIID #4685
  10. Germany to vote on Feb 23, report says Putin is trying to influence voters
    firstpost.com · FP Staff · AIID #4689
  11. How are web platforms protecting the German electorate from fake news?
    euronews.com · Cynthia Kroet · AIID #4678
  12. Between Russia and Elon Musk, German Voters Face a ‘Dual Front’ of Disinformation
    nytimes.com · Katrin Bennhold, Steven Lee Myers · AIID #4673
  13. The Kremlin wants to influence German elections through disinformation
    truthmeter.mk · Ana Anastasovska · AIID #4679
  14. Fake news: Germania sotto attacco. Ecco da dove arriva l'ondata di disinformazione
    corriere.it · Mara Gergolet, Milena Gabanelli · AIID #4898
  15. Russia-linked fake videos spread German election fraud claims, authorities warn
    politico.eu · Chris Lunday · AIID #4905

Who was involved

Alleged harmed party
Unnamed British Police Officer, Unnamed American University Presidents, Robert Habeck, Olaf Scholz, Natalie Finch, German Voters, German Politicians, German Federal Election Integrity, General Public Of Germany, Friedrich Merz, Academics Targeted By Storm 1679, Academics Targeted By Operation Overload, Academics Targeted By Matryoshka, Democratic Integrity

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Causal entity
AI
Intent
Intentional
Timing
Post-deployment
Harm level
—
Sectors
—
Countries
—

Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 4.1.

  • Coercion/manipulation

    "Coercion/manipulation - Use of a technology system to covertly alter user beliefs and behaviour using nudging, dark patterns and/or other opaque techniques, resulting in potential erosion of privacy, addiction, anxiety/...

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Electoral interference

    "Electoral interference - Generation of false or misleading information that can interrupt or mislead voters and/or undermine trust in electoral processes."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Political manipulation

    "Political manipulation - Use or misuse of personal data to target individuals’ interests, personalities and vulnerabilities with tailored political messages via micro-advertising or deepfakes/synthetic media."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Political and Economic

    "Political and Economic - Manipulation of political beliefs, damage to political institutions and the effective delivery of government services."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Biased influence through citizen screening and tailored propaganda

    "AI-powered chatbots tailor their communication approach to influence individual users' decisions. In the UK, a form of initial computational propaganda has already happened during the Brexit referendum. In future, there...

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Political

    "In the UK, a form of initial computational propaganda has already happened during the Brexit referendum1 . In future, there are concerns that oppressive governments could use AI to shape citizens’ opinions"

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Surveillance and Censorship

    "Content moderation has emerged as one of the key use-cases of LLMs (Weng et al., 2023), indicating the potential of LLMs for surveillance and censorship as well (Edwards, 2023). Surveillance and censorship are one of th...

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

  • Disinformation and manipulation of public opinion

    "AI, particularly general- purpose AI, can be maliciously used for disinformation (351), which for the purpose of this report refers to false information that was generated or spread with the deliberate intent to mislead...

    International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI (Bengio2024)

Incidents in the same risk subdomain

All incidents in this subdomain