How Russia is trying to disrupt the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

Russia is ramping up malign disinformation campaigns against France, French President Emmanuel Macron, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. While Russia has a decades-long history of targeting the Olympic Games, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) has observed old tactics blending with artificial intelligence (AI) in malign activity that may intensify as the 2024 Paris Opening Ceremony approaches. These operations have two principal aims:

• Denigrate the reputation of the IOC
• Create the expectation of violence breaking out in Paris at the Games

Several prolific Russian influence actors, which Microsoft tracks as Storm-1679 and Storm-1099, have pivoted their operations since June 2023 to focus on the Olympics. These insights are detailed in a special Microsoft Threat Intelligence report published today: “Russian Influence Efforts Converge on 2024 Paris Olympic Games.”