Democrats in Alabama created a phony online campaign in a second disinformation effort to defeat Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in his 2017 special election bid, The New York Times reported Monday.

According to the Times, progressive Democrats created the "Dry Alabama" campaign to suggest Moore supported a statewide ban on alcohol. The campaign, which spanned Facebook and Twitter, was reportedly modeled after campaigns used by Russians to sow disinformation in the 2016 presidential election and was the second disinformation push leveled at Moore.

The New York Times reported last month that cybersecurity research firm New Knowledge helped create a fake conservative Facebook page during the 2017 race. That page employed "Russian-style election deception" to suggest Moore enjoyed Russian support.

The separate "Dry Alabama" campaign was launched in the final two weeks of the race with the thought that associating Moore with an alcohol ban would hurt his chances with moderate, business-focused Republicans, the Times reported.

The Alabama efforts each received $100,000 through Investing in Us, an organization which backs political operations in support of progressive causes, according to the report.

Matt Osborne, a progressive activist who worked on the campaign, told the Times that Democrats cannot simply reject the controversial tactics if Republicans continue to use such deception.

"If you don't do it, you're fighting with one hand tied behind your back," Osborne told The New York Times. "You have a moral imperative to do this – to do whatever it takes."