Kate Middleton conspiracy theories exploited by Russian disinformation campaign to amplify agenda: university

Dozens of accounts linked to a Russian disinformation group contracted by the Kremlin were amplifying conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton's health, according to researchers.

"We have a long-term program of research looking at disinformation and information manipulation online and what we did in this particular case was we were monitoring the traffic around the story about the Princess of Wales and we noticed some unusual spikes in the traffic," Professor Martin Innes, Cardiff University's Security, Crime and Intelligence Institute director, told ABC Australia radio host Patricia Karvelas.  

Innes said when their researchers looked into the spikes more closely, "we saw some unusual patterns of activity and behavior on a number of accounts that we recognized from having looked at a particular Russian disinformation group before."