PARIS (AFP) — Russian influence operations have sharply escalated their use of one of the most insidious tactics in the disinformation playbook: the mass production of counterfeit news reports that mimic trusted European media outlets, according to a new report released Monday. The report, compiled by NewsGuard, a media-trust and misinformation-tracking organisation, documents an extraordinary surge in what researchers call “brand-impersonation” or “doppelganger” journalism. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kremlin-linked actors have created at least 906 fake news reports designed to look like legitimate articles from established news organisations, NewsGuard said. The acceleration is stark. In the first half of 2026 alone, researchers identified 421 newly fabricated stories, an 850 percent increase compared with the same period in 2025. The report also zeroes in on France, where 85 fake reports linked to the upcoming presidential election have circulated since the summer. Chine Labbe, NewsGuard’s top editor for Europe, told AFP that while Russian disinformation campaigns often intensify in the final stretch before elections, the activity in France has begun unusually early, months before the 2027 national vote. European news outlets are the “primary target” of this campaign, the report says, most likely because of Europe’s sustained political, financial and military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The findings suggest that information warfare has moved beyond simple fake news websites and social media bots into a more dangerous phase, where the credibility of real journalism is stolen to make falsehoods appear trustworthy.
The method used by the operations is both simple and effective, according to NewsGuard. The campaigns lift the logos, fonts, page layouts and overall visual identity of genuine media outlets, then publish fabricated articles on websites with slightly altered URLs that resemble the legitimate addresses. In some cases, they create entirely new domains that are one or two characters away from the real ones; in others, they may republish official-looking pages on compromised servers or use social media accounts bearing the outlet’s name. “In every case, the Russian campaign hijacks the brands’ logos and layouts, sometimes creating a new site using a URL similar to the authentic one, making it difficult for the typical user to discern that it is counterfeit,” the report said. The fake articles often carry convincing headlines, bylines and dates, and are written in a style indistinguishable from ordinary news reporting. They may even include invented quotes attributed to real subject-matter experts, a tactic that adds an aura of authority and makes verification substantially harder. These counterfeit stories are then circulated through social media, search results, messaging applications and email forwards. The report lists the most frequently impersonated outlets in detail. Pan-European broadcaster Euronews tops the list, with 82 fake reports identified between March 2023 and September 2026. French publications Liberation and Charlie Hebdo were targeted 39 and 35 times respectively, while Agence France-Presse was impersonated in 20 separate instances. International outlets including the BBC, Germany’s Deutsche Welle and Politico also featured prominently among the targets. The heavy focus on French media is no accident. France, as one of the European Union’s most influential members and a major military backer of Ukraine, has long been a focal point for Kremlin influence operations.
The report’s findings are particularly worrying for France, where the disinformation campaign appears to be arriving much earlier in the electoral cycle than in previous years. NewsGuard identified 85 fake reports connected to the presidential election since the summer, a figure that is likely to grow as the campaign intensifies. In earlier election cycles, Russian influence operations often burst into public view in the final days before polling, as with the last-minute leaks and forged documents that roiled the 2017 French presidential campaign. This time, the report suggests, the strategy is different: the objective is gradual saturation, seeding confusion and doubt over months, so that by election day many voters may no longer know which sources of information are reliable. The fake reports uncovered in France have dealt with a range of sensitive topics, including immigration, security, national identity, and allegations about political candidates. Some articles are designed to inflame anger or spread fear; others are subtler, aiming to muddy policy debates or to make real politicians appear to have said or done things they never did. In every case, the effect is corrosive. The counterfeit articles force real media outlets to spend time and resources denying fabricated stories, while readers who see the fakes may begin to question the reliability of the original news brands. This is precisely the intended outcome, researchers argue. By laundering lies through the trusted names of established journalism, the operation seeks to undermine the very concept of objective truth. French authorities and fact-checking organisations have been put on alert, but the scale of the fake-report machine is making their task increasingly difficult.
NewsGuard attributes the campaign to a constellation of Kremlin-linked influence operations, naming two in particular: Matryoshka, named after the Russian nesting dolls because of its nested layers of fake personas, websites and narratives, and Storm-1516, a well-documented pro-Russian influence network previously known for creating fake activists, fake think tanks and fabricated whistleblowers. Both networks have been active in Europe for years, but NewsGuard says their methods have now come to dominate contemporary Kremlin-linked information operations. The key reason for the recent explosion is the rapid development of artificial intelligence tools. AI can generate convincing text, images and even audio in a matter of seconds, drastically lowering the cost and human effort needed to produce fake news at industrial scale. “These practices have now come to dominate contemporary Kremlin-linked information operations, largely because the rise of artificial intelligence has enabled them to produce fakes quickly and easily at scale,” the report said. Previously, building a fake news site that convincingly imitated a major newspaper required teams of writers, editors, graphic designers and technical staff. Now, a single operator with access to a generative AI chatbot can copy a news outlet’s style, invent verisimilar quotes and produce dozens of articles in a single hour. This helps explain why the number of fabricated reports has skyrocketed: the cumulative count of 906 fake stories is striking, but the sharpest growth has occurred in the most recent period, with 421 new fakes appearing in only six months. AI is also making detection harder, because the fakes are no longer riddled with obvious grammatical errors or awkward phrasing.
The consequences of this phenomenon extend far beyond the individual falsehoods. By disguising themselves as respected news organisations, the fabricated reports exploit the trust that real journalists have built up over decades. This not only makes a specific piece of disinformation more convincing; it also causes collateral damage to the entire media ecosystem. When readers eventually learn that an article allegedly published by Liberation, Charlie Hebdo or Euronews was in fact a Russian fabrication, their faith in all journalism can suffer. The report emphasizes that the fake articles often include invented quotes from actual experts, making it harder for fact-checkers and automated tools to separate fiction from reality. This blurring of boundaries creates a fog of confusion around public discourse, leaving citizens unsure about what is true and what is not. In a democratic election, such confusion is deeply dangerous. Voters may become more susceptible to radical narratives promoted by social media influencers, or they may simply disengage from the political process altogether. The warning is not restricted to France. Several European countries, including Germany and Poland, face elections in the coming years, and NewsGuard found that the fake-report machine is already operating at full capacity across the continent. The report says that combating this threat requires a comprehensive response: social media platforms must identify and remove impersonating accounts; newsrooms must alert audiences to the existence of fake versions of their websites; governments should support independent media and fact-checking organisations; and ordinary citizens must learn to check URLs, investigate sources and resist sharing suspicious content without verification.
The report serves as a stark reminder that the information space has become a battleground. With the French presidential election approaching, the 85 fake reports identified so far are unlikely to be the final total; NewsGuard expects dozens more to surface in the coming months. The same techniques are already being used against targets across Europe, and the widespread availability of artificial intelligence means the threat will only grow. Russian authorities have repeatedly denied running influence operations, but Western intelligence agencies and independent researchers have for years documented a systematic pattern of Russian interference in foreign elections and media environments. The figures in the NewsGuard report — 906 fake reports, an 850 percent year-on-year surge, and a heavy focus on French and other European outlets — underline the scale of the challenge. In a digital ecosystem where forgery is cheap, social media amplifies outrage, and trust in institutions is already fragile, the classic tools of journalism are more important than ever. Verification, transparency, editorial independence and public media literacy are essential defences. NewsGuard also calls for technological responses, including digital watermarking, authentication standards and rapid takedown procedures for impersonating domains. Above all, the report argues, the battle cannot be left to newsrooms alone. Tech companies must take responsibility for the content they host; governments must defend democratic institutions without curbing free expression; and citizens must become more discriminating consumers of information. The fake reports are designed to make all information look suspect. The antidote, the researchers say, is not cynicism but vigilance. As France moves toward a pivotal election, the warning is unambiguous: in the war of narratives, the first casualty is trust, and no democracy can afford to lose it.
