The hoax had two different names, with two different hashtags (#EbolaInAtlanta and #shockingmurderinatlanta), but the intent was the same.

"The attention to detail was remarkable, suggesting a tremendous amount of effort," wrote the Times' Adrian Chen. A recent Beyoncé single played in the background of a fake video, which also included a shot of a vehicle with the Hartsfield-Jackson logo.

Its cyber tactics routinely targeted the Russian government's domestic and foreign "enemies," as well as political dissidents, Chen wrote.

And one day last winter, it targeted Atlanta.

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A Korean Air plane takes off from Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. The plane is chartered to bring back Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia. (Yonhap via AP)

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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