Looks like VLADIMIR PUTIN's strange romance with DONALD JOHN TRUMP is still taking the form of Russian malefactors attempting to inflict Big Lies in our political campaigns. From The New York Times:
U.S. Spy Agencies Issue New Warning on Russia’s Election Misinformation Campaign
Three recent videos have sought to undermine confidence in the security of the vote.
Julian E. BarnesSteven Lee Myers and Arijeta Lajka
The reporters have been covering foreign efforts to influence the 2024 election.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind two new fabricated videos that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted in Georgia and that Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband received a $500,000 bribe from the performer Sean Combs.
The U.S. government issued a new warning about the fabrications on Friday, a week after blaming Russia for another video that falsely claimed that ballots in Pennsylvania were being destroyed.
Officials say foreign powers are working to undermine faith in the election, and government agencies in charge of protecting the vote next Tuesday have said the current torrent of false claims is greater than before. A senior official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called it a “fire hose of disinformation.”
The agency, along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the F.B.I., released a statement on Friday attributing both videos to Russia’s efforts to sway voters in the election and inflame partisan divisions.
They were examples, the senior official added, of how foreign influence operations were “deliberately undermining the American public’s confidence in American democracy.”
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, quickly denounced the video making the false claim about Haitians illegally voting multiple times in Georgia after it began to spread on X on Thursday.
“This is false, and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Mr. Raffensperger said in a statement. “It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
Both videos were spread on X by a user called Alpha Fox, who describes the account as “sometimes satire” and has nearly 650,000 followers. The account appears to belong to a man in Massachusetts who did not respond to requests for comment.
The videos, according to X’s public count, received hundreds of thousands of views. The one about voting in Georgia showed a man claiming to be a Haitian immigrant who arrived in the United States six months ago and obtained citizenship and identification documents.
“We’re voting Kamala Harris,” the man says. “Yesterday we voted in Gwinnett County, and today we’re voting in Fulton County.”
He then shows several identification cards that look like Georgia driver’s licenses, calling on “all Haitians to come to America.” A closer examination showed that one photograph on an identification card was a stock photo. The address on the card led to an office park in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Social media users also shared the video in a group channel on X created by Elon Musk’s political action committee to collect allegations of voter fraud.
The government’s statement only briefly noted the second video, saying it involved allegations of bribery of a Democratic candidate by an entertainer.
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center and Darren L. Linvill, a professor and the director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, said that the fabrication involved Mr. Combs, known as Diddy or Puff Daddy, and that it first appeared on a fake American news outlet, Patriot Voice, that has been linked to Russian disinformation campaigns.
Mr. Linvill said the videos were productions of a Russian operation known to researchers as Storm-1516, a group that has spread a variety of videos trying to sow distrust in the election. A video created earlier this year, for example, falsely accused the C.I.A. of setting up a troll farm in Ukraine to boost President Biden and Democrats.
“The style and production values of the videos are exactly in line with what we’ve seen from them before,” Mr. Linvill said of the newest ones.
Mr. Raffensperger said he had asked Mr. Musk, the owner of X, to remove the false video about Georgia from the social media platform. That post is no longer available.
The other post from Alpha Fox, which has been viewed 2.5 million times, is still online, along with a thread that includes the video. In it, a person whose face is blurred and whose voice is altered sits in a car describing the false allegations.
As this year’s election reaches its culmination, officials have tried to move quickly to snuff out obviously false narratives, though those involving election fraud or irregularities often go viral.
Last week, a Russian disinformation group created and pushed a video falsely suggesting that ballots in Bucks County, Pa., had been destroyed. Local election officials quickly declared it a fake, while federal intelligence officials cited it as the work of Russians.
False claims about voting irregularity claims have proved harder to spread, in part because they are much easier to disprove than murky claims about a candidate’s past.
As the Bucks County video made clear, Russian disinformation groups have begun shifting their content toward election conduct. The government statement on Friday said the videos were part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”
Intelligence officials have said that Russia favors former President Donald J. Trump. His skepticism about offering Ukraine military support, which Russia invaded nearly three years ago, and his promise to force peace talks have raised the stakes in the election for Russia, officials say.
Even with the two prominent examples of Russians seeking to undermine faith in the vote, Clint Watts, the head of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said there seemed overall to be less disinformation focused on voting irregularities at this point than in previous election cycles. That may reflect a calculation that Mr. Trump could win and that emphasizing irregularities could cloud a victory.
“They don’t want to undermine an election in which maybe they get the outcome they want,” Mr. Watts said. “Maybe this time they are a bit more reserved about it.”
The latest series of videos suggests it may be picking up.
NewsGuard, a company that tracks disinformation, also disclosed on Friday a series of posts on Telegram, YouTube and X claiming that those using voting machines in Kentucky were not allowed to vote for Mr. Trump. The false reports apparently stemmed from a misleading account of a woman having trouble with a touch-screen.
Microsoft expects Russian disinformation groups to move quickly to create more content if the election is contested. U.S. intelligence agencies have also predicted that Russia and Iran could attempt to stoke protests and even violence after the election if Mr. Trump is defeated, or if the election is too close to call.
Russia could undermine the public’s faith in the vote either by manufacturing false claims or by amplifying concerns of Americans over potential voting irregularities.
Over the past few months, intelligence officials have also said that Iran has sought to intervene, favoring Ms. Harris though broadly seeking to stoke political divisions and turmoil. Iranian-backed hackers took information from the Trump campaign and tried to spread it. U.S. intelligence agencies tracked a potential Iranian plot to assassinate Mr. Trump.
Ms. Harris has come out strongly against Iran, naming it as a top threat to the United States. And the Biden administration has warned Iran that any plot against Mr. Trump or attempt on his life would be considered an act of war.
“If Iran is not sure what they get with either candidate, why root for either one because it puts them in a tough spot after the election,” Mr. Watts said. “I am not sure they are convinced they get what they want out of it.”
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades. More about Julian E. Barnes
Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation and disinformation from San Francisco. Since joining The Times in 1989, he has reported from around the world, including Moscow, Baghdad, Beijing and Seoul. More about Steven Lee Myers
Autocrats like Putin love Trump because they know he's not interested in democracy only power for power's sake, and he is most likely to give them their way since that's what Trump wishes others would do for him... just let him do whatever in the hell he wants. Trump doesn't understand that these nations pose a threat and don't really respect human rights and don't deliver justice properly. China sees him as a clown and a trouble maker in America which he is. The man is not a model.
ReplyDeleteTrump supporter is proof and evidence of an inadequate education system where top many people fall through the cracks and fail to achieve the level of mental competency that it takes to understand politics and vote accordingly. That and many of these people have been consuming far right propaganda and irrational ideology for at least a decade.
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