John Mark Dougan, a former Florida deputy sheriff who fled to Russia, created a network of over 150 fake local news websites using AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E 3 to spread Russian disinformation targeting American voters and undermining support for Ukraine.
John Mark Dougan, a former U.S. Marine and Palm Beach County deputy sheriff who fled to Russia in 2016 to avoid criminal charges, has established a sophisticated disinformation operation from Moscow. Working with Russian military intelligence (GRU) and funded through the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, Dougan created over 150 fake local news websites with names like DC Weekly, Chicago Chronicle, and Boston Times that mimic legitimate American news outlets. Using commercially available AI tools including OpenAI's ChatGPT and DALL-E 3, he has generated tens of thousands of articles mixing real news with fabricated stories promoting Russian narratives. The operation has reached over 67 million views across 16 languages and has been cited in news articles and social media posts nearly 8,000 times. Key disinformation narratives included false claims that Ukrainian President Zelensky used U.S. aid to buy luxury yachts and estates, allegations of CIA plots against Trump, and fabricated stories about Tim Walz. Some of these false narratives were subsequently repeated by Republican members of Congress including Marjorie Taylor Greene and J.D. Vance. Dougan also created fake YouTube videos featuring AI-generated personas posing as whistleblowers to support his fabricated stories. The operation has evolved to target multiple democracies, recently shifting focus to Germany's upcoming elections with similar tactics.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed