FBI links video falsely depicting voter fraud in Georgia to 'Russian
influence actors'
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[November 02, 2024]
By ERIC TUCKER and ALI SWENSON
WASHINGTON (AP) — A video purporting to depict voter fraud in Georgia is
fake and the work of “Russian influence actors," U.S. intelligence
officials said Friday as they warned that foreign efforts to undermine
faith in the integrity of next week's elections may persist long after
votes have been cast.
The announcement that the video was fake represented an effort by the
FBI and other federal agencies, four days before Tuesday's elections, to
combat foreign disinformation by calling it out rather than letting it
spread for days unchecked. It follows a similar statement last week that
also attributed to Russian actors a widely circulated video falsely
depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in
Pennsylvania.
The 20-second video, which began circulating on the social media
platform X on Thursday afternoon, shows someone who describes himself as
a Haitian immigrant talking about how he’s intending to vote multiple
times in two Georgia counties for Vice President Kamala Harris.
He flashes several purported Georgia IDs with different names and
addresses. An Associated Press analysis of the information on two of the
IDs confirms it does not match any registered voters in Gwinnett or
Fulton counties, the two counties he mentioned.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Thursday night that
the video is “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls
“attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election."
Intelligence officials echoed that finding Friday, saying the video was
manufactured by “Russian influence actors” and was part of “Moscow’s
broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the
U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”
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Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, listens as the House
select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at
the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn
Martin, File)
The intelligence community expects Russia, in the days before the
election and weeks and months after, "to create and release
additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the
integrity of the election and divide Americans,” said the joint
statement from the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence.
The post that originally popularized the video was no longer
available on Friday morning, but copycat versions of the video were
still being shared widely with false claims it showed election
fraud.
The video in its style and method of dissemination is similar to
other videos created by Storm-1516, also known as CopyCop, a known
Russian disinformation network that has created several fake videos
this election, according to Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media
Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who has researched the group.
Also Friday, the agencies attributed to Russia a separate
manufactured video falsely accusing “an individual associated with
the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S.
entertainer.” They did not elaborate.
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