What you need to know about Russia’s alleged election scheme targeting Pennsylvania voters

The United States is accusing Russia plotters of meddling with the presidential election again, and Pennsylvania is among the alleged targets.

The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that 32 internet domains connected to a Russian disinformation network were seized as part of an investigation led by the FBI’s Philadelphia field office.

Prosecutors said the network, known as “Doppelganger,” was run by a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The effort allegedly sought to dupe Americans into believing that Kremlin-produced propaganda (in favor of Russian interests and former President Donald Trump) had been produced by legitimate American news outlets.

Part of the effort, dubbed “The Good Old USA Project” aimed at targeting voters from specific demographics in the United States with fake news and spoofed social media posts.

In a separate case in New York, the Department of Justice also announced Wednesday that two employees of RT, the Russian state media organization, had been indicted on charges of illegally paying a Tennessee company millions of dollars to spread misinformation through right-wing podcasters and commentators.

Federal authorities in Philadelphia led the investigation into the Doppelganger network and obtained court judgment Wednesday allowing them to seize 32 internet domains they had tied to the Russian disinformation effort.

Justice Department officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday on why the FBI’s Philadelphia office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania had been selected to lead the investigation. But it’s not unusual for the DOJ to assign major investigations to local field offices based for reasons ranging from geographic considerations to the availability of prosecutors or agents with subject matter expertise in that district.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court, the Doppelganger network, as part of its work, sought to specifically shape public opinion in American swing states, including Pennsylvania.

“The conspirators specifically targeted the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s citizens … in order to influence the electorate in this, and other districts,” the affidavit said.

» READ MORE: Feds in Philly announce takedown of Russian-backed propaganda effort aimed at influencing U.S. presidential vote

In addition to swing state voters, Doppelganger targeted other key demographics, by way of social media groups, advertising, and influencers, according to the filing.

An alleged “Good Old USA Project” planning document attached to the filing lists “target audiences” including Hispanic Americans, American Jews, swing state residents, residents of conservative states (including Alabama, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming and Louisiana), and the “community of American gamers, users of Reddit and image boards such as 4chan (the ‘backbone’ of right-wing trends in the U.S. segment of the internet).”

The document outlines a goal of promoting “news groups” on Facebook, Reddit, and X in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and also lists YouTube as part of its strategy of influencing targeted audiences.

The group allegedly used targeted advertising on Facebook and artificial intelligence tools to spread negative information about U.S. politicians. Several Meta accounts were registered with account names that seem like real news organizations, like CNN California, Sacramento Inside, California News, and California BBC, according to the filing, and the group also allegedly made fake websites that looked like legitimate outlets like The Washington Post and Fox News, and with supposed bylines of real journalists that work for those organizations.

In a separate case that was also announced Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled an indictment against two Russian employees of RT — Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27. The duo are accused of funneling nearly $10 million through a Tennessee-based online content creation company which published English videos on TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube that support Kremlin interests.

While the federal indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, doesn’t name the Tennessee-based company, a quote from the company’s YouTube in the indictment calling itself “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” suggests the business is Tenet Media, the Washington Post reported.

Tenet was founded by conservative commentator Lauren Chen, who goes by Roaming Millennial online and works as a host for Glenn Beck’s BlazeTV and contributed to Turning Point USA, and her husband Liam Donovan, the Post reported.

The U.S. company has posted almost 2,000 videos that have garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube since launching publicly in 2023. The English videos contain commentary on U.S. issues, and “most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States,” the Justice Department said.

Tenet contributors were misled about how the company was funded, but the cofounders knew the money came from Russia, according to the indictment.

According to the Justice Department, the U.S. company never disclosed its involvement with RT to viewers, and the company and its founders never registered as an agent of a foreign power.

Kalashnikov, prosecutors say, posed as an outside editor, and Afanasyeva was introduced as a member of his supposed team. Afanasyeva allegedly posted and directed the posting of hundreds of videos under the personas of Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti.

Pennsylvania is a critical swing state that could determine who wins the presidential election.

Fake news and disinformation can be commonplace on social media, and an increasing number of Americans are exposed to it, mistaking it for factual news reports.

As described in Wednesday’s court filings, one of the primary goals of both the Doppelganger network and the effort by the RT employees was to advance the candidacy of Donald Trump, who is believed by Russia to be more supportive of its interests. President Donald Trump and Putin have both publicly praised one another.

However, in announcing the cases, the Justice Department was careful not to specifically identify Trump or the Republican Party by name as the intended beneficiaries of Russia’s efforts. They have not accused the former president or his campaign of having any knowledge or involvement in the disinformation plot.

Russia has tried to use the power of social media to influence the past two presidential elections. In 2016, Russia ran a sophisticated social media campaign to influence voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, such as through fake news stories about election fraud in the state and by organizing fake campaign rallies.

» READ MORE: 'Paint Philly red': How Russian trolls sought to influence Pa.'s 2016 vote

Additionally, Putin was found to have approved attempts to help Trump in the 2020 election in a U.S. intelligence report that has been denied by Russia.

This week’s cases were among a series of actions the Biden administration announced this week to combat Russian attempts at election interference head-on. Those efforts also included sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department against key figures and business entities.

Together, the efforts “illustrate vividly what the U.S. government and private sector partners have warned for months: The Russian government and its proxies are aggressively accelerating the Kremlin’s covert efforts to seed false stories and amplify disinformation directed at the American public,” Matthew G. Olsen, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement Wednesday. “To Russia, and any other government seeking to stoke discord in our society: know that we will spare no effort and use every available tool to disrupt and expose this malign activity and defend our democratic institutions.”

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.