Ahead of the 2024 US Presidential Election, US government agencies have accused Russian actors of manufacturing a video that falsely depicts individuals claiming to be from Haiti illegally voting in multiple counties in the state of Georgia.
The joint statement, issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), reveals that this video is part of a broader campaign by the Kremlin to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming election and further divide the American public.
“The Intelligence Community (IC) assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia,” the agencies wrote. They noted that this judgment is based on information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including similar disinformation efforts.
The video in question, which has been widely shared on social media platforms, shows two men in a car claiming to be Haitian. They allege to have multiple Georgia IDs and state that they voted for Democratic Party Presidential candidate Kamala Harris in two different Georgia counties. The individuals also encourage other Haitians to come to the US, claiming they obtained citizenship within six months of arrival.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has refuted the video’s claims as false, urging social media platforms to remove the content. “We are working to combat this and identify the origin of it with our state and federal partners. CISA is currently investigating. In the meantime, we ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down. This is fake and part of a disinformation effort. Likely it is a production of Russian troll farms,” Raffensperger said.
The agencies’ statement also accused Russian influence actors of manufacturing a separate video “falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a US entertainer.” This likely refers to a video posted on Twitter that claims Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff had tipped off music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs to a Department of Homeland Security raid in exchange for $500,000.
Broader Efforts to Undermine Election Integrity
The warnings from US government agencies come amid growing concerns about nation-state influence operations targeting the upcoming US Presidential Election. In September, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted two employees of Russian state media group RT (formerly known as Russia Today), alleging they paid a Tennessee-based content company $10 million to post disinformation that garnered millions of views.
Intelligence agencies have also cautioned that malicious actors are spreading false claims that US voter registration databases have been breached, using publicly available voter registration information to support these claims. In August, Microsoft released a report detailing four distinct cyber influence operations conducted by Iranian threat actors, which were designed to interfere with the 2024 US Presidential Election.
As the 2024 election approaches, it is clear that the threat of foreign influence and disinformation campaigns remains a significant concern for US officials. The American public must remain vigilant and rely on authoritative sources of information to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.
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