Doppelganger — Media Clones Serving Russian Propaganda

EU DisinfoLab's original Doppelganger investigation is one of the landmark FIMI investigations of recent years — the first public documentation of a Russian-linked operation that systematically cloned the websites and visual identities of legitimate European media outlets to distribute pro-Kremlin disinformation under credible mastheads. The investigation identified Struktura and the Social Design Agency as the operators, and its findings directly triggered EU sanctions against both entities.

The investigation demonstrates that sophisticated civil society technical investigation can produce findings with direct regulatory and sanctions consequences — one of the few cases where open-source investigation has triggered formal state action against FIMI operators. For practitioners studying Russian FIMI infrastructure and for investigators developing technical detection methodologies, this is essential reading.