In a chilling escalation of foreign election interference, U.S. intelligence officials confirmed Tuesday that the Russian government is responsible for creating and amplifying a fake viral video falsely accusing Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz of child molestation. The fabricated video, which spread rapidly across social media last week, has been labeled as “manipulated media” by platform X.
The video features a man claiming to be Matthew Metro, a former student of Walz during his time as a high school teacher and coach, alleging sexual misconduct in 1997. However, the real Metro quickly came forward to denounce the video as a hoax, telling The Washington Post, “It’s obviously not me: The teeth are different, the hair is different, the eyes are different, the nose is different.” He confirmed that he attended the same school but was never taught by Walz and had no connection to the video or the X account that posted it.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has been closely monitoring this situation and attributed the video’s creation to Russian influence actors. In an election interference update, the ODNI stated that its analysis of the media revealed multiple signs of manipulation consistent with Russian tactics, designed to undermine confidence in the U.S. democratic process.
Experts have identified Storm-1516, a Russian-aligned propaganda network, as the likely source of the disinformation. This network has a history of spreading fake stories and manipulated media to sow division and confusion in U.S. politics.
The Harris-Walz campaign has launched its own investigation into the fake video, having contacted the real Metro to inform him of the situation. While the video has been debunked, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the sophisticated and dangerous lengths foreign actors will go to disrupt U.S. elections.
As the November election approaches, intelligence officials warn that this is likely just one of many attempts by foreign adversaries to spread disinformation and stoke political tensions.
