Since 2022, the Doppelgänger method—the cloning of reputable media websites to spread disinformation—has been widely used across Europe. By mimicking trusted outlets with nearly identical domain names, these fake platforms publish fabricated news and impersonate journalists. Investigations by the EU Disinfo Lab revealed large-scale operations targeting Germany, the UK, France, and Italy, using falsified articles and videos to undermine support for Ukraine and portray its government as corrupt.
The campaign, named “Doppelgänger,” was attributed to Russian firms Struktura and the Social Design Agency. According to Bavarian intelligence, nearly 8,000 Russian propaganda campaigns using this tactic circulated on Facebook and X between May 2023 and July 2024. Well-known outlets such as Le Monde, The Guardian, and Fox News were among those imitated to mislead audiences and influence public opinion.
Since 2025, similar disinformation operations have appeared in Armenia, targeting both the EU and Armenian authorities. For example, a clone site—Courrierfrance24.fr—falsely claimed that France’s state-owned company Orano had begun transporting nuclear waste to Armenia and transferring funds to a charity linked to the Prime Minister’s family.
This topic was covered by Ophelia Simonyan on Media.am, where the full article is available.
Ophelia Simonyan prepared this story as part of The Berlin Journalism School’s (BJS) Strengthening Resilience Against Disinformation program, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.