Operation Overload: pro-Russian actors flood newsrooms with fake content

CheckFirst, working with Reset.Tech and more than 20 fact-checking organizations, investigated a coordinated campaign — dubbed Operation Overload, described as an escalation of the earlier 'Matryoshka' operation — that used Telegram, X, and a network of controlled websites to push fabricated content toward media and fact-checking organizations, with media-forensics input from a Ghent University researcher.

The operation targeted more than 800 organizations, mostly media outlets, primarily across France, Germany, Italy, and Ukraine, distributing nearly 2,400 coordinated tweets and over 200 emails urging newsrooms and fact-checkers to 'verify' fabricated material. More than 250 fact-check articles referencing the fake assets were subsequently published, illustrating how the campaign exploited the verification process itself to spread its narratives further.

The report concludes the operation deliberately overwhelms fact-checkers' limited resources, using high-quality fabricated content timed to major events to embed divisive narratives even through the debunking coverage it provokes.