On December 7, our friends at The New York Times gave us this headline: “Russia’s Latest Disinformation Tactic Exploits American Celebrities.”
According to the article, the Russians have tricked up videos from Elijah Wood, Priscilla Presley, Mike Tyson, and other D-listers, making it seem that they are delivering pro-Kremlin propaganda points. How, exactly, have the Russians done this?
According to the Times, they have hijacked videos from Cameo, a website that connects celebrities to paying customers for the purpose of making brief messages, such as birthday greetings. But now the Russians have altered these Cameos for their nefarious purposes, such as slamming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Okay, so that’s a violation of Cameo’s terms of service, and maybe a few other rules. But it’s also the sort of sophomoric “mashup” that half the…
