In recent weeks, Microsoft has revealed that Russian operatives have intensified their online attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. The operatives have been producing and disseminating videos containing "outlandish conspiracy theories" with the aim of fueling racial and political divisions within the United States.

According to Microsoft researchers, one of the fabricated videos, which garnered millions of views, falsely claimed to show Harris supporters attacking an attendee at a Donald Trump rally. Another video wrongly accused Harris of paralyzing a young girl in a hit-and-run accident back in 2011. Russian operatives promoted the latter story through a website posing as a local San Francisco media outlet, Microsoft disclosed.

This latest report offers further evidence that Kremlin-linked trolls and digital operatives are intensifying their efforts to denigrate Harris' campaign just weeks before the presidential election. As early as July, US intelligence agencies had warned that Russia planned to "covertly use social media" to influence public opinion and undermine support for Ukraine in swing states.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has noted that Russia's preferences for the presidential race have not changed since 2020 or 2016. In both those elections, Moscow conducted various influence operations with the goal of disparaging Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, respectively.

CNN has reached out for comment on the Microsoft report from the Harris-Walz campaign, as well as from the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC. Microsoft highlighted that there was a brief period of difficulty for Russian influence operations when Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July. However, in late August and early September, videos attacking Harris and her supporters emerged, indicating a strategic shift by Russian actors to exploit perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates.

This research comes at a time when the US government is taking decisive action to counter Russian disinformation efforts targeting American voters in the final stages of the presidential campaign. Last week, the State Department declassified intelligence alleging the integration of Russian state-run media outlet RT into Russia's intelligence operations worldwide, including those aimed at elections.

Additionally, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment accusing two RT employees of funneling nearly $10 million into a US company, identified as Tenet Media by CNN, to create and amplify content aligned with Russian interests. Responding to this, US social media giant Meta announced a ban on RT due to the network's "foreign interference activity."

US intelligence officials have also identified Iran as another foreign power actively trying to shape the US presidential campaign. Tehran has engaged in covert social media activity aimed at undermining the candidacy of former President Donald Trump, as stated by US officials. The Iranian government-backed hackers also targeted the Trump campaign by hacking and leaking internal campaign documents to the US media outlets, according to a joint statement from the FBI and other agencies.

As the presidential campaign enters its final stretch, it is evident that online disinformation and influence operations remain significant challenges that demand increased vigilance and robust countermeasures from both the government and tech companies to safeguard the integrity of the democratic process.