Operation Doppelgänger

I'm fascinated by how people turn to the Gothic and horror to describe their world, even when things are not horror per se.

Today's example comes from the world of election interference.  Germany is heading into a major election and charges Russia with trying to subvert it.  Either Germany or Russia has given the effort a classic codename:

At the center of the effort to influence German voters is Doppelgänger, a Kremlin-backed operation, according to the German Office of Foreign Affairs. The campaign uses fake news sites, sleeper accounts, and AI-generated content to spread false narratives and erode trust in Western institutions.

It's not a bad name in this case, as the m.o. seems to be about imitation:

These sleeper websites mimic legitimate media outlets and remain inactive until a politically sensitive moment — such as an election — when they begin publishing false stories that spread rapidly through coordinated social media networks.

The uncanny double is, of course, unsettling and its appearance usually yields a grim outcome.