Russian actors are behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots being destroyed for Donald Trump, US officials said Friday, amid heightened vigilance over foreign influence campaigns targeting the upcoming election. Were.
The video, which has been viewed millions of times on platforms like Elon Musk-owned X, shows a man sorting mail-in ballots from the state’s Bucks County and shredding those for Trump.
On Thursday, the Bucks County Board of Elections declared the video “bogus”, saying that the envelope and other materials shown in the footage “are clearly not authentic material” belonging to or distributed by them.
In a joint statement on Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the video was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
“Russian actors created and disseminated a recent video that falsely depicted a man tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania,” the statement said.
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise baseless questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and sow division among Americans,” it said.
The statement said Russia is expected to create and release more such materials in an effort to “undermine confidence” in the integrity of the November 5 elections.
The video emerged as US officials were preparing for a surge in disinformation in the final days of a tight election between Republican nominee Trump and Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The video, which was also debunked by AFP fact-checkers, was linked to a Kremlin-aligned disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers including Darren Linville, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub. Is.
Linville, who has studied the network closely, said that the account on X — formerly known as Twitter — that distributed the video regularly amplified other narratives from this network.
According to disinformation researchers, Storm-1516 has previously created fake videos to discredit the campaign of Harris and her partner Tim Walz.
Last month, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said Russian operators were stepping up a disinformation campaign to discredit Harris’ campaign by circulating conspiracy-laden videos.
The ODNI warned in a memo earlier this week that in addition to Russia, Iran and China are also “promoting divisive narratives designed to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the American democratic system.”
“Foreign influence efforts will intensify ahead of Election Day, particularly through social media posts – some of which are likely AI generated or enhanced,” the report said.
It added, “These actors likely believe that undermining trust in elections undermines the legitimacy of our democracy and results in the United States becoming less able to effectively pursue policies that best serve their interests.” are opposites.”
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