The Russian disinformation network seems to be targeting the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
The 404media publication reports, the media outlet reported that the attackers were distributing a fake vertical video with a fake WIRED watermark via Telegram and journalists’ email accounts. The video falsely claims that the game is used to search for potential conscripts and collect personal data of players.
«The Ukrainian game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 helps the government find citizens suitable for mobilization», — the text of the video says on the footage from the gameplay of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. «A built-in program was found in the game code that collects player data and transmits it to the developer’s servers. The program collects data about the player’s device, name, IP address, and current location. The information is transmitted every second».
The video alleges that the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, GSC Game World, allegedly made a deal with the Ukrainian government to fund the game, in return for helping it «find men suitable for mobilization».
This fake is being spread using the same methods and through the same network that attacked 404 Media in March. The French news agency AFP, which was also targeted by the disinformation campaign along with other media outlets, called it «Operation Matryoshka». According to researchers at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Laboratory (DFRL), the campaign aims to flood Telegram, social media, and journalists’ email accounts with fake stories. Such stories usually defame NATO countries and Ukraine, waste journalists’ time and undermine trust in the media.
The author of the article on 404media writes that every day he receives dozens of emails with fake stories like the one about Stalker 2. Most of them do not have any publicity, except for a few tweets, which X (Twitter) usually deletes.
We recently wrote that Russians are actively trying to discredit S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, buying negative reviews.