Le réseau Doppelganger de la Russie a utilisé du contenu généré par l'IA pour cibler le discours politique canadien

Between late 2023 and mid-2024, Russia's Doppelganger disinformation network produced and distributed articles specifically targeting Canadian politics. The operation was run by the Social Design Agency and Structura, operating under the Kremlin's Presidential Administration (Wikipedia, 2024).

A CBC investigation confirmed that a Doppelganger site called "Reliable Recent News" published more than a dozen articles about Canadian politics, in an apparent attempt to undermine support for then-Prime Minister Trudeau and boost his chief rival, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre (CBC News, 2024). Between November 2023 and August 2024, the broader Doppelganger network operated through more than 700 websites — including fake news sites and clones of legitimate news outlets — across targeted countries (Wikipedia, 2024).

OpenAI confirmed that the Doppelganger operation used ChatGPT to translate articles and generate social media comments for distribution (Wikipedia, 2024). This represents documented use of a commercial generative AI tool in a state-directed disinformation campaign. Whether the articles specifically targeting Canadian politics were AI-generated is not confirmed by available sources.

Global Affairs Canada issued a formal statement on October 28, 2024 on Russian disinformation activities targeting Canada, noting that while Europe and the war in Ukraine appeared to be the primary focus, Canadian social and political issues also featured in the content (Global Affairs Canada, 2024). The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) initiated a study on Russian disinformation campaigns in Canada in September 2024.