Iran is targeting the U.S. election with fake news sites and cyber operations, research says

Iran is stepping up its influence campaign aimed at the U.S., researchers at Microsoft said in a new report, adding to the ongoing efforts by Russia and China to sway American public opinion before the presidential election. 

Researchers identified websites that they attributed to the Iranian operation, aimed at voters on the political left and right. One website, Nio Thinker, bills itself as "your go-to destination for insightful, progressive news and analysis that challenges the status quo" and hosts articles that bash former President Donald Trump and hail Vice President Kamala Harris as "our unexpected, awkward savior." 

Another site identified by researchers, Savannah Time, poses as a voicey conservative local alt-weekly. "We're opinionated, we're noisy, and we're having a good time," the about section of the site says. It hosts articles claiming to be written by "the spokeswoman for the International League for Women's Rights," arguing for more modest Olympics beach volleyball bathing suits, next to articles lauding Iran's military might. 

The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center noted the sites were likely using artificial intelligence tools to lift content from legitimate U.S. news publications and repackage articles in a way that hides the content's source. 

The group behind the sites, according to Microsoft, is part of a larger Iranian operation, active since 2020, that operates more than a dozen other fake news sites targeting English-, French-, Spanish- and Arabic-speaking audiences. The campaign has not found significant success with a U.S. audience, and the sites' content has not been shared widely on social media, according to the researchers. But researchers say the sites could be used closer to the election. 

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