Fake CBC ads have flooded X with sketchy headlines. We looked for the source [Video]

Ads featuring fake CBC articles have inundated the social media platform X in recent weeks. The ads are designed to lure Canadians into a sophisticated scam that uses Russian internet infrastructure, CBC News has found. 

CBC News’ visual investigations unit has investigated both the internet infrastructure behind the ads — leading from a Barrie, Ont., provider, to the Netherlands, to Russia — as well as the spoofed accounts from local businesses sharing the ads.

Dozens of accounts on X, formerly Twitter, have shared the ads, which often feature sensationalist headlines focusing on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre or NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

If a user clicks on the Poilievre ad, for example, they are brought to a fake CBC-style article that features a fake transcript of an interview between the Conservative leader and Guy Lepage, the host of the Radio-Canada program Tout le monde en parle. 

In the transcript posted in the article, Poilievre explains how …