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IRAN: MEK/NCRI – when AI impersonated a real activist in live conversations For years, synthetic media has largely meant fabricated images, cloned voices and manipulated video. A case uncovered by Anthropic in September 2026 suggests a more consequential development: artificial intelligence being used not merely to imitate how a person looks or sounds, but to behave as that person in an ongoing conversation. Anthropic says it dismantled a distributed influence operation targeting Iranians inside the country and abroad that it linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI/MEK, and its political front, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The operators used a shared AI-agent platform to support impersonation, audience profiling, coordinated social-media activity, synthetic personas and the laundering of organisational content through apparently independent accounts. At least four people involved in the operation worked for official NCRI media outlets, according to Anthropic. The company also found references to committee approval processes and MEK leadership, but said it could not independently determine the precise level of central control. Cloning a person from 8,400 Telegram posts The most striking part of the operation involved a real activist whose Telegram identity was copied. According to Anthropic, the operators instructed Claude in Persian that it was now that person, then provided approximately 8,400 of the activist’s Telegram posts so the system could learn and reproduce his writing style. The AI-assisted account was subsequently used to conduct live political conversations with the activist’s existing contacts. Anthropic says that, to its knowledge, the people receiving those messages did not know they were interacting with an account being operated with AI assistance. This is materially different from a conventional chatbot or a static deepfake. The system was not simply producing a forged statement attributed to someone else. It was using a large archive of that person’s authentic language as behavioural training material, then applying the resulting imitation interactively. In practical terms, the deception moved from synthetic content to synthetic identity. Anthropic did not publish the identity of the impersonated activist, nor details of his contacts, and the public report does not establish what specific information the conversations produced. What it does establish is that the impersonation was operational rather than experimental: the cloned account was used in real exchanges with real people. From social-media monitoring to psychographic dossiers The impersonation sat inside a much broader targeting system. Anthropic says the network scraped more than 500 social-media channels and categorised individuals by location, age, profession, political orientation and arrest history. It then analysed approximately 51,944 archived messages from conversations to construct detailed psychographic dossiers on dozens of people inside Iran. The system was therefore not limited to broadcasting propaganda. It was also designed to understand specific audiences and individuals. Profiles could be used to decide what kind of message was most likely to resonate with a particular person, which political identity they appeared closest to and how they should be approached. Anthropic describes this as a structured targeting funnel rather than ad hoc social-media activity. That distinction is important in the Iranian context. Political activists, dissidents and opposition contacts inside Iran can face arrest and severe punishment. The report does not show that the dossiers directly led to arrests or other harm, but collecting and organising information such as arrest history and political affiliation adds a surveillance dimension to what would otherwise be described as an influence operation. A shared AI system for an influence network Anthropic found that the actors used a shared Claude-based platform named “Viktor”, with separate workspaces and persistent memory. Those memory files contained approved sources, prohibited words, account-management instructions and methods intended to reduce the risk of detection. One operator loaded MEK founding doctrine into the system as what the report called “strategic base data”, allowing others to reuse it across their work. This persistent-memory structure meant the AI did not have to be briefed from scratch for every task. Once doctrine, stylistic rules and operational constraints had been stored, the system could repeatedly produce material consistent with the network’s objectives. Anthropic says the same general playbook appeared across different workspaces despite the operators not sharing obvious account infrastructure. The network also used automated pipelines to coordinate Instagram posting schedules and tailor messages to different audiences. Some accounts initially avoided mentioning the Mojahedin at all, allowing material aligned with MEK/NCRI narratives to appear as neutral or independent political commentary. Content was distributed through the organisation’s own media ecosystem as well as accounts presented as ordinary news or activist profiles. Anthropic assessed the campaign as Category Two on its Breakout Scale: active on multiple platforms with distribution through NCRI-linked media properties and amplifier accounts, but without evidence of broad authentic penetration. Synthetic citizens and disguised organisational media The same infrastructure generated AI avatars presented as ordinary Iranians, complete with Persian audio, to promote Maryam Rajavi’s political programme. Anthropic says the synthetic nature of these personas was intentionally concealed. Operators also rewrote and redistributed content originating from MEK-affiliated media while stripping identifying features or presenting it through apparently independent accounts. The network’s political messaging targeted the Iranian government but also rival opposition currents, including monarchists and supporters of the Pahlavi camp. Anthropic documented fabricated video material attacking a member of the Pahlavi family and the use of the slogan “Neither Shah Nor Sheikh”, consistent with the NCRI’s broader competition with other opposition movements. That rivalry provides relevant context. Reuters describes the MEK as one of Iran’s principal organised opposition movements in exile and the dominant force behind the NCRI, led by Maryam Rajavi. Its relationship with other opposition currents is often contentious, while the extent of its support inside Iran remains uncertain. What can be attributed – and what cannot Anthropic’s attribution is unusually specific but still needs to be stated carefully. The company says its investigation linked the operation to MEK/NCRI and established that at least four participants worked for official NCRI media organisations. It also found a common operational playbook, committee review structures and repeated references to MEK leadership. On that basis, Anthropic said central tasking was likely. It nevertheless stopped short of saying it had proven that NCRI’s senior leadership directly ordered or managed every component of the operation. That caveat matters. The strongest public evidence supports describing GTG-84006 as a MEK/NCRI-aligned influence operation involving personnel from official NCRI media, rather than asserting that every action was directly commanded by the organisation’s top leadership. The broader significance of the case lies elsewhere. Earlier generations of synthetic media attempted to fabricate evidence: a photograph, a voice recording or a video. Here, AI was used to maintain an identity over time, remember doctrine, analyse targets and speak directly to real people while appearing to be someone they already trusted. The deepfake was no longer merely an artefact. It had become a participant in the conversation. Sources Anthropic — Countering misuse of AI: September 2026 https://www.anthropic.com/threat-intelligence-report-september-2026 AI Misuse Case Library — GTG-84006 activist impersonation case https://www.misuseofai.com/en/cases/gtg-84006-activist-impersonation/ Reuters — Who makes up Iran’s fragmented opposition? https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/who-makes-up-irans-fragmented-opposition-2025-06-18/ Reuters — Iran’s divided opposition senses its moment https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-divided-opposition-senses-its-moment-activists-remain-wary-protests-2025-06-19/ Reuters — NCRI and Maryam Rajavi https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dissident-leader-abroad-urges-iranians-bring-down-khamenei-2025-06-24/ Keywords #DISINFORMED #Episode12 #Iran #MEK #PMOI #NCRI #IranianOpposition #Disinformation #InfluenceOperations #InformationWarfare #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #ClaudeAI #Anthropic #AIDeception #AIImpersonation #IdentityImpersonation #SyntheticIdentity #InteractiveDeepfake #DigitalImpersonation #PersonaCloning #BehaviouralCloning #Telegram #PsychographicProfiling #TargetProfiling #AudienceTargeting #SocialMediaManipulation #Astroturfing #SyntheticPersonas #NarrativeLaundering #CoordinatedInfluence #PoliticalInfluence #DigitalInfluence #OppositionPolitics #IranPolitics #OSINT #WRLD

AFRICA DAILY REPORT — 29 SEPTEMBER 2026 Major developments reported during the previous 24 hours. 1. ETHIOPIA — Renewed Tigray conflict intensifies around strategic Alamata Federal-aligned forces claimed the capture of Alamata, an important supply hub south of Mekelle, after a TPLF-led offensive widened fighting into Afar and Amhara. Diplomatic sources cited by Reuters said the town had fallen or federal-aligned forces had entered it, while communications remained disrupted across Tigray. The renewed conflict is raising serious concerns about the survival of the 2022 Pretoria peace settlement. Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopian-pro-government-forces-claim-capture-strategic-tigray-town-2026-09-28/ 2. DR CONGO — Ebola outbreak passes 8,000 confirmed cases Importance: 10/10 — Critical Government data showed 8,067 confirmed Ebola cases and 3,901 deaths as of September 26. The Bundibugyo-virus outbreak is now the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic recorded in the DRC and has spread across 63 health zones in seven provinces; shortages of health workers and weaknesses in contact tracing continue to impede containment. Source: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2026-09-28-drc-ebola-infections-cross-8000-confirms-government/ 3. SOUTH AFRICA — Death toll from Wedela tavern shooting rises to 18 Importance: 9/10 — Very High Police said another victim died in hospital, raising the death toll from the weekend attack in Wedela, southwest of Johannesburg, to 18. Authorities are searching for the attackers and examining a possible connection to turf wars in illegal gold mining; a separate weekend shooting near Cape Town killed another 10 people. Source: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/south-african-police-death-toll-062225459.html 4. ZAMBIA — Government targets average 7% economic growth Importance: 8/10 — High Zambia's finance ministry says the government aims to raise average economic growth to 7% over the next three years. The target follows progress in restructuring the country's external debt and represents an attempt to translate improving macroeconomic stability into stronger sustained growth. Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zambia-aims-lift-economic-growth-7-over-next-three-years-2026-09-28/ 5. MALI — Barrick and unions reach agreement, averting gold-mine strike Importance: 8/10 — High Barrick Mining signed a new collective bargaining agreement with unions at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, and planned strike action was withdrawn. The agreement reduces immediate operational risk at one of Mali's most important gold-producing assets following a prolonged period of tension involving the miner, workers and the Malian authorities. Source: https://www.brecorder.com/news/40441512/mali-gold-mine-barrick-mining-reaches-deal-with-unions 6. KENYA — Court of Appeal upholds Affordable Housing Levy Kenya's Court of Appeal dismissed challenges to the Affordable Housing Act and levy, upholding the legal framework underpinning one of President William Ruto's major domestic programmes. The judges also upheld the Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner's role in collecting the levy, although they found that the Commission on Revenue Allocation should have been consulted before parliamentary debate. Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/202609280027.html 7. ETHIOPIA–SUDAN — Accusations over support for armed groups deepen regional tensions Ethiopia's army chief accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of supporting forces fighting federal troops amid renewed warfare in northern Ethiopia. Sudan rejected the allegations as baseless and counter-accused Ethiopia of facilitating support for Sudan's paramilitary RSF, adding another interstate dimension to the conflicts destabilising the Horn of Africa. Source: https://apnews.com/article/6b3208122a4221f3c2e8dcbe21630016 8. UGANDA — Police confirm detention of activist Praise Aloikin Ugandan police confirmed that activist Praise Aloikin Opoloje is in custody after activists and associates had reported her missing. Police said she had been arrested and would be brought before a court; Aloikin participated in the 2024 anti-corruption protests and has publicly criticised political and security figures. Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/202609280365.html 9. SOUTH AFRICA — Rand weakens as high oil prices increase economic pressure Importance: 7.5/10 — High The rand weakened about 0.5% against the dollar in early Monday trade as Middle East tensions pushed Brent crude above $107 per barrel. Because South Africa imports most of its fuel, sustained high oil prices pose risks through higher import costs and inflationary pressure. Source: https://www.channelafrica.co.za/channelafrica/news/rand-slips-as-us-iran-stalemate-pushes-oil-prices-higher/ 10. AFRICA — AFCON 2027 qualification moves into Matchday 2 Importance: 6/10 — Moderate The latest qualifying round opened with Burkina Faso beating Central African Republic 1–0, Equatorial Guinea defeating Sierra Leone 1–0, DR Congo beating Zimbabwe 2–1 and Tunisia drawing 2–2 with Botswana. September 29 brings a large slate including Ethiopia–Senegal, South Sudan–Egypt, Ghana–Gambia, Guinea-Bissau–Nigeria and Zambia–Togo. Source: https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/6/577635/Sports/Africa-Cup-of-Nations-qualifiers-results-amp%3B-fixt.aspx #Africa #AfricaNews #TopNewsOfAfrica #SouthAfrica #Wedela #Johannesburg #TavernShooting #MassShooting #ViolentCrime #IllegalMining #PublicSafety #Zambia #ZambianEconomy #EconomicGrowth #GDPGrowth #DebtRestructuring #Macroeconomics #AfricanEconomy #Ethiopia #Tigray #Alamata #TigrayConflict #PretoriaPeaceAgreement #HornOfAfrica #ArmedConflict #RegionalSecurity #AfricanSecurity #Geopolitics #AfricaToday #wrldorg

Licitația „Collecting Now”, organizată de Artmark pe 23 septembrie, de la ora 19:00, readuce în atenție arta contemporană printr-o selecție de opere excepționale, printre care se numără și imagini iconice ale lui Mihai Eminescu care au provocat publicul bucureștean în această primăvară la Art Safari. https://www.litera13.ro/2026/09/portretele-lui-eminescu-ce-au-provocat.html

🚨BREAKING: Steve Hilton and his CAL-DOGE fraud investigation team have uncovered a massive scam: Mexican citizens living in Mexico are pretending to be illegal immigrants residing in California — and collecting free healthcare paid for by California taxpayers. According to Hilton, this fraud is part of $20 BILLION in taxpayer dollars being sent to illegals — and Governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly bragging about it. This is next-level fraud.

Ως φανατικός συλλέκτης retail, καθημερινά μπαίνω και "χτενίζω" καταστήματα, τιμές, μεταχειρισμένα, προσφορές κλπ. Μπορώ να επιβεβαιώσω στο 100% ότι 9 στις 10 φορές που ψάχνω ένα παιχνίδι, η ψηφιακή του έκδοση είναι πάντα ακριβότερη από ζελατινάτο retail (που κρατάς για πάντα). Θα έχει πολύ ενδιαφέρον, αν ακόμη και χωρίς δίσκο από το 2028, αυτή η παράδοση θα συνεχίστεί, μιας και εφόσον περνάει στα χέρια του καταστηματάρχη (ακόμη και με κωδικό μέσα), θα μπορεί να ελέγχει αυτός μία επικείμενη έκπτωση. https://t.co/A4tFnpKGOf #retail #gaming #collecting

Cutting aid to poor people while collecting billions from the same government when musk certainly didn’t need those billions. Effing grifter! They all found the golden (government) tit for themselves… #WealthInequality #CorporateWelfare #SocialJustice #Thetweetdoesnotmentionanyspecificcountries.Therefore #therearenocountrycodestoreturn.

2010-2026: 16 χρόνια κρατάμε ψηλά τη σημαία του Ολυμπιακού, με πίστη, όνειρα και θριάμβους. Γράφουμε μαζί με τον υπέροχο κόσμο μας χρυσές σελίδες στην ιστορία του ΘΡΥΛΟΥ του παγκόσμιου αθλητισμού, εκπροσωπώντας την Ελλάδα στην ελίτ του Ευρωπαϊκού ποδοσφαίρου ταξιδεύοντας τα ελληνικά χρώματα σε όλο τον κόσμο. Είδαμε την Ποδοσφαιρική Ομάδα να κατακτά Ευρωπαϊκό τίτλο φτάνοντας σε ένα όνειρο τρελό που υπήρχε σε κάθε Ολυμπιακό και ελληνικό σπίτι για έναν αιώνα! Την ίδια χρονιά είδαμε το νέο αίμα του Συλλόγου, την Ομάδα των νέων να κατακτά το Champions League των Νέων (Youth League). 11 Πρωταθλήματα, 5 Κύπελλα, 1 σούπερ καπ, απόλυτη κυριαρχία στην Ελλάδα! Συνεχίζουμε για υψηλότερες κορυφές. Ένα όραμα ένας στόχος: Παντοδύναμος Ενιαίος Ευρωπαίος Ολυμπιακός με αμέτρητους τίτλους σε όλα τα σπορ σε Ελλάδα και Ευρώπη! Ονειρευτήκαμε για τον Ερασιτέχνη, έναν πολυαθλητικό Σύλλογο στην κορυφή της Ευρώπης και το κάναμε πράξη! Από το 2010 μέχρι σήμερα, ο ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ ΣΦΠ άλλαξε τον Παγκόσμιο Αθλητισμό φτάνοντας σε 143 τίτλους (σε σύνολο 227 στην Ιστορία μας) από τους οποίους οι 11 Ευρωπαϊκοί (σε σύνολο 15 στην Ιστορία μας) στα βασικά Ολυμπιακά ομαδικά σπορ! Την ίδια περίοδο ο Ερασιτέχνης ΟΣΦΠ γιόρτασε περισσότερους από 120 τίτλους σε ατομικό επίπεδο ενώ θαυμάσαμε τους αθλητές και τις αθλήτριές μας να θριαμβεύουν στους Ολυμπιακούς Αγώνες και σε όλες τις μεγάλες διοργανώσεις εγχώριες και διεθνείς. Ζούμε όλοι μαζί οι Ολυμπιακοί σε μια εποχή θριάμβων στο ποδόσφαιρο, στο μπάσκετ, στο βόλεϊ, στο πόλο, στο χάντμπολ και σε όλα τα σπορ, προχωράμε ενωμένοι, μια γροθιά στο μέλλον. ΣΥΝΕΧΙΖΟΥΜΕ ΝΑ ΟΝΕΙΡΕΥΟΜΑΣΤΕ! ΥΠΕΡΗΦΑΝΟΣ ΠΟΥ ΕΙΜΑΙ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ! 2010–2026 For 16 years, we have proudly carried the Olympiacos flag high, driven by faith, dreams, and triumphs. Together with our incredible supporters, we have written golden chapters in the history of the Legend of world sport, representing Greece among the elite of European football and carrying the Greek colors across the globe. We witnessed our football team lift a European trophy, fulfilling a dream that had lived in every Olympiacos and Greek household for an entire century. In that same historic year, we saw the Club’s next generation—our Youth Team—win the UEFA Youth League, proving that the future belongs to Olympiacos as well. Eleven league titles, five Greek Cups, and one Super Cup — a period of absolute dominance in Greece. And we continue striving for even greater heights. One vision, one goal: a powerful, united European Olympiacos, collecting countless titles across all sports in Greece and throughout Europe. We dreamed of seeing Olympiacos SFP become a multi-sport club at the summit of European sport—and we made that dream a reality. From 2010 to the present day, Olympiacos SFP has redefined excellence in international sport, winning 143 titles (out of 227 total titles in our history), including 11 European trophies (out of 15 overall) in the major Olympic team sports. During the same period, Olympiacos SFP celebrated more than 120 titles in individual sports, while our athletes thrilled us with their achievements at the Olympic Games and at the highest domestic and international competitions. Today, all Olympiacos supporters are living through an era of triumphs—in football, basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, and across every sport. United as one, we move forward into the future. WE CONTINUE TO DREAM! PROUD TO BE OLYMPIACOS! #Olympiacos #Sports #Pride

The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, has accused a streaming service giant of collecting data from children and adults without their consent and using "addictive" designs to keep them engaged, claiming the company records and profits from billions of user behavior insights, contrary to its assertions. #DataPrivacy #ConsumerProtection #DigitalAddiction #US

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused a streaming service giant of collecting data from children and adults without their consent and using "addictive" design features to keep them engaged, claiming the company records and profits from billions of user behavior insights, contrary to its assertions. #DataPrivacy #Surveillance #StreamingServices #US

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused a streaming service giant of collecting data from children and adults without their consent and using 'addictive' designs to retain users, claiming that the company records and profits from 'billions' of user behaviors contrary to its stated claims. #DataPrivacy #UserConsent #StreamingServices #US

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused a streaming service giant of collecting data from children and adults without their consent and using "addictive" designs to keep them engaged, despite the company's claims to the contrary. #DataPrivacy #ConsumerProtection #StreamingServices #US