I've covered Irish sport for decades sadly, from doping scandals to Brazilian jails. David Courell is the single biggest scumbag I've come across in it. By miles. His words were disgusting and like many I'm done if they play. @FAIreland #IrishSport #Doping #FAIreland #IE #BR
If your close colleagues, brother and wife are all embroiled in corruption scandals and you are the Prime Minister of Spain, *even assuming you are personally just an innocent bystander* (which seems highly unlikely to me), surely the honorable thing to do is to resign so that a #Spain #Corruption #Resign #ES
Russia’s influence operation arrives ahead of the US midterms With weeks remaining before America's November midterm elections, a familiar type of content has begun appearing online. Videos resembling reports from CNN, the BBC and The New York Times accuse candidates of corruption, antisemitism and misconduct. Hollywood actors appear to denounce Democrats. Other clips claim that warnings about Russian interference are themselves a Democratic disinformation campaign. The reports are fabricated. Graphika, which tracks online influence operations, says it has identified a coordinated campaign targeting candidates in competitive US Senate races. It assesses with high confidence that the material was produced by Operation Overload, also known as Matryoshka – a long-running Russia-aligned influence operation previously active against elections and political debates in Europe and the United States. The activity coincides with a broader warning from American intelligence officials. Classified assessments reported by The New York Times conclude that the Kremlin has authorised another digital influence campaign ahead of the 2026 midterms, aimed primarily at exploiting existing divisions and undermining confidence in American democracy. There is an important distinction. US officials have not reported evidence that Russia is attempting to manipulate voting machines or alter the counting of votes. The operation is about influencing the information environment surrounding the election. Fake scandals for competitive Senate races Graphika traced a concentrated wave of activity between 10 and 14 September. Likely inauthentic or repurposed accounts distributed videos accusing Democratic politicians of corruption, antisemitism and other misconduct. The targets included Senator Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Representative Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and Texas state representative James Talarico, as well as Senate candidates Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Mary Peltola in Alaska, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Joshua Turek in Iowa and Troy Jackson in Maine. The selection was not random. These were politicians involved in Senate contests where the result could matter to control of the chamber. The campaign did not rely on a single political narrative. Instead, it attached different accusations to different candidates – corruption, social issues, antisemitism or personal misconduct – while maintaining a consistent production and distribution model. That model is characteristic of Matryoshka: create apparently independent pieces of evidence, disguise them as journalism and distribute them through networks of disposable accounts. Hollywood celebrities who never said what the videos claimed One of the campaign's more distinctive techniques involved genuine footage of American actors. Videos featuring celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts were altered with captions and other material to suggest they were promoting the slogan #AllDemocratsAreCriminals. The technique continued in subsequent material. Fact-checkers identified fabricated New York Times-branded videos using footage of Alyssa Milano, Sean Astin, Rachael Harris, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden, Annie Potts and Patrick Fabian. Some of the original footage came from Cameo, where actors record personalised video messages. Their authentic images were retained while fabricated audio, captions or surrounding material changed the meaning entirely. Lead Stories compared several of the clips with the originals and found that the supposed political statements did not appear in the genuine recordings. Eric Braeden's representative separately confirmed that the claim he had joined the anti-Democratic campaign was false. The advantage of the technique is straightforward. Generative AI does not need to create a convincing celebrity from nothing. The operator can begin with authentic footage of a recognisable person and manipulate only the elements necessary to manufacture a political statement. Stealing the authority of real newsrooms Celebrity impersonation was only one layer. The operation repeatedly borrowed the visual identity of established media organisations. Graphika identified material impersonating or falsely citing the BBC, CNN and Politico, alongside references to France's VIGINUM foreign-interference agency and journalist Brandy Zadrozny. Other material reproduced New York Times-style branding. Some fabricated reports made an unusual claim: that Democrats themselves were organising disinformation or “false-flag operations” and then blaming Russia. This creates a defensive layer around the influence operation. Instead of merely distributing false political allegations, the campaign also attempts to discredit future reporting about the manipulation itself. If successful, evidence exposing foreign interference can be reframed as part of the conspiracy. Graphika says it assesses with high confidence that Operation Overload produced these videos. The technique is well established. Earlier investigations by CheckFirst and Reset Tech documented hundreds of falsified pieces of content produced by Operation Overload, often impersonating journalists, institutions and major media brands. AI-generated or manipulated material has increasingly become part of that production system. What US intelligence says Russia is trying to achieve The broader strategic picture comes from American intelligence assessments reported on 18 September. According to US officials familiar with classified findings, the Kremlin has authorised a covert digital influence campaign aimed at Americans during the 2026 election season. Its apparent objective is to seed or amplify domestic divisions and weaken confidence in the political process. Some officials described the principal aim as creating disorder rather than helping a single political party. The publicly identified Matryoshka material examined so far, however, has targeted Democratic candidates. Those two findings should not be treated as contradictory. An operation can exploit partisan divisions while serving the broader objective of making the electoral system appear corrupt, chaotic or illegitimate. US officials also reportedly assess the current Russian campaign as less extensive or coordinated than some previous election operations. Moscow is considered less focused on congressional elections than presidential contests and remains heavily occupied by its war against Ukraine. Russia has denied previous US accusations of election interference. An operation with limited reach – so far There is another reason for caution: producing large quantities of disinformation is not the same as successfully influencing voters. Matryoshka has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to manufacture content at industrial speed, but much of its material receives little genuine engagement. Researchers monitoring the network have previously warned against confusing automated distribution and platform view counts with authentic audience penetration. There are exceptions. A fabricated New York Times-style video featuring Jamie Lee Curtis had accumulated nearly 200,000 views on X by the end of 17 September, according to reporting by The New York Times. Other pieces attracted considerably less attention. There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that the campaign has changed voting intentions or will affect election results. What the September activity demonstrates is something narrower but important: a Russia-aligned influence infrastructure previously used against European elections has now turned significant attention towards the American midterms. The basic method has changed little – impersonate trusted media, manufacture scandals and use networks of inauthentic accounts to distribute them. What has changed is the production technology. Authentic celebrity footage, synthetic voices, manipulated video and rapidly generated fake journalism allow the same operation to produce more tailored material for more candidates at lower cost. The objective does not require Americans to believe every fabrication. Creating uncertainty over which videos, news reports and public statements are authentic can itself degrade trust in the information environment surrounding an election. Sources - Graphika — Russia-Aligned Influence Operation Targets US Midterm Candidates, German State Elections https://www.graphika.com/insights/russia-aligned-influence-operation-targets-us-midterm-candidates-german-state-elections - The New York Times — Russia Aims to Inject Chaos Into Elections, U.S. Intelligence Finds https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/us/politics/russia-election-disinformation-us-intelligence.html - Kathimerini / The New York Times — Russia Aims to Inject Chaos Into Elections https://www.ekathimerini.com/nytimes/1315792/russia-aims-to-inject-chaos-into-elections-us-intelligence-finds/ - CheckFirst — Operation Overload: An AI-fuelled escalation of the Kremlin-linked propaganda effort https://checkfirst.network/operation-overload-an-ai-fuelled-escalation-of-the-kremlin-linked-propaganda-effort/ - CheckFirst — Operation Overload targeting the US election https://checkfirst.network/operation-overload-a-growing-disinformation-threat-now-targeting-the-u-s-presidential-election/ - Lead Stories — Fake NYT videos: Alyssa Milano, Rachael Harris and Sean Astin https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2026/09/fact-check-fake-new-york-times-videos-of-alyssa-milano-rachael-harris-sean-astin-falsely-claim-they-support-all-democrats-are-criminals.html - Lead Stories — Fake NYT videos: Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden and other celebrities https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2026/09/fact-check-fake-new-york-times-videos-of-leonardo-dicaprio-eric-braeden-other-celebs-falsely-claim-they-support-all-democrats-are-criminals.html - Brennan Center for Justice — AI Is Changing Foreign Election Influence https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/ai-changing-foreign-election-influence - ODNI — previous US intelligence assessment of foreign election information operations https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NICM-Declassified-Foreign-Threats-to-US-Elections-After-Voting-Ends-in-2024.pdf - FBI / ODNI / CISA — previous joint assessment of Russian election influence operations https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/joint-odni-fbi-and-cisa-statement-110424 #DISINFORMED #Episode9 #Russia #UnitedStates #USMidterms #Midterms2026 #USElections #ElectionInterference #ForeignInterference #RussianInfluence #RussianDisinformation #OperationOverload #Matryoshka #Disinformation #InformationWarfare #InfluenceOperations #FIMI #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AIPropaganda #Deepfakes #SyntheticMedia #MediaImpersonation #FakeMedia #FakeNews #PoliticalDisinformation #CelebrityDeepfakes #SocialMediaManipulation #DigitalInfluence #ElectionSecurity #CognitiveWarfare #Graphika #OSINT #Democracy #WRLD
Post-election scandals are now unfolding rapidly in Sweden, with allegations of electoral misconduct and manipulation of personal votes. The consequences of Sweden’s failed integration policies are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Read more: https://t.co/26XRanbhPk #Sweden #Elections #Scandals #SE
SÁNCHEZ HAS FAILED SPAIN. 🇪🇸 Spain deserves more than political survival, separatist bargaining and economic spin. Pedro Sánchez has: rejected Kosovo, amnestied Catalan separatists, made his government dependent on separatist allies, presided over repeated scandals around PSOE, https://t.co/jLtRDqVOLC #Sánchez #Spain #Politics #ES #XK
Directorul general al Farului Constanța, Cristian Bivolaru, a fost descoperit ca fiind colaborator al Securității sub pseudonimul „George”, recunoscând că a semnat un angajament de colaborare în urma unei situații de șantaj, în timp ce ar fi oferit informații în perioada comunistă, ceea ce a generat un scandal în Superliga românească. #FarulConstanța #Securitatea #ScandalSportiv
Today is world whistleblower's day. The number of scandals that we know about solely because of whistleblowers is enormous. They put their jobs and futures on the line in order to do the right thing. They must be appropriately protected - for the benefit of society at large. #WhistleblowerDay #ProtectWhistleblowers #Transparency #Nospecificcountriesarementionedinthetweet #sotherearenocountrycodestoreturn.
Such remarks are unbecoming of the EU’s chief diplomat. Instead, EU officials should address the corruption and countless scandals that are eroding the Union from within and damaging its achievements. #EUCrisis #CorruptionInEU #DiplomacyMatters #EU
🚨 @RSF_inter Yesterday, Poland witnessed an unprecedented violation of press freedom. Journalist @LKraskowski, who investigated some of the biggest scandals connected to Donald Tusk’s political camp, has been placed in 3 months of pre-trial detention. This means 3 months of #PressFreedom #Poland #Journalism #PL
Biserica Ortodoxă Română a aprobat retragerea preotului Petru Păduraru de la conducerea Mitropoliei Basarabiei în urma unui scandal sexual, la scurt timp după ce acesta și-a anunțat demisia invocând motive de vârstă și sănătate, coincizând cu apariția unor imagini compromițătoare. #MitropoliaBasarabiei #PetruPăduraru #scandalsexual
Un scandal sexual în care este implicat Mitropolitul Petru al Basarabiei a dus la retragerea acestuia din funcție, generând controverse în contextul rivalității dintre Mitropolia Basarabiei, subordonată Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, și Mitropolia Moldovei, subordonată Patriarhiei Moscovei, în timp ce autoritățile evaluează posibilitatea unei resetări a conducerii Mitropoliei în cadrul unui proces legat de administrarea lăcașurilor de cult. #MitropoliaBasarabiei #scandalsexual #BisericaOrtodoxă
Pedro Sánchez, marking eight years as Spain's prime minister, faces mounting pressure and calls for his resignation amid a spate of corruption scandals involving his allies and family, despite being personally unimplicated in any of the investigations. #Corruption #Spain #PedroSanchez
After eight years in office, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces significant political challenges and calls for his resignation amid a surge of corruption investigations involving allies and family members, as his government and the Socialist Party grapple with multiple scandals, including allegations of influence peddling and money laundering. #Spain #Corruption #PedroSanchez
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton achieved a surprising victory over long-serving Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, marking a significant political shift and setting the stage for a closely watched general election against Democrat James Talarico, amid broader implications for Senate control as Paxton leverages his Trump's populist base despite personal scandals. #TexasSenatePrimary #KenPaxton #TrumpEndorsement
Десетки хиляди демонстранти протестират в Мадрид за оставката на премиера Педро Санчес след корупционни скандали, включително разследване на бившия премиер Сапатеро за търговия с влияние и пране на пари. #протест #Мадрид #корупционнис scandals
RT @JournalismSEEN: ‘The national broadcaster has played a central role in one of the worst medical and media scandals of our age’ On the… #MediaScandal #NationalBroadcaster #JournalismEthics #Therearenospecificcountryreferencesinthetweet.Therefore #therearenocountrycodestoreturn.
Mike Wendling explores the emergence of prediction markets, American platforms allowing users to wager on a variety of current events, which promise to provide accurate insights about the future but are also plagued by scandals and concerns about their potential to distort reality. #PredictionMarkets #Gambling #FutureTrends #GB #US #VE #PS
