American intelligence services fear attempts at external interference, at a time when Americans are called to the polls to decide between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
“Russia is the most active threat,” they wrote in a statement.
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US presidential election
Will the US elections be disrupted by foreign interference? In any case, this is what the American intelligence services (ODNI) fear. In a joint press release (new window) along with the Federal Police (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), they warn that foreign countries could “conducting influence operations designed to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and fuel divisions among Americans”.
In their sights: the country of Vladimir Putin, who has officially not taken a position between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. “Russia is the most active threat”they say. “Russia-linked influence actors are fabricating videos and creating false articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election and instill fear in voters regarding the electoral process. […] We anticipate that Russian actors will broadcast additional content on these themes on Election Day and in the days and weeks after the polls close.”
Videos “made from scratch”
Some content has even already been posted online. At the end of October, a video was posted on social media purporting to show a Haitian immigrant who could have voted in the key state of Georgia. The sequence, which has gone viral, is in reality an attempt at intimidation, as explained by the TF1-LCI Verifiers. The FBI, ODNI and CISA have confirmed that “Russian agents of influence had fabricated it” this video.
The ODNI also spotted a video in which a person claims that fraud with false ballots and alterations of electoral lists was to favor Kamala Harris in Arizona, another state which can swing the vote. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called the video “completely bogus” and his state took steps to protect its election workers and voting operations.
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This is not the first time during this American presidential campaign that Washington has accused Moscow, but also Tehran, of engaging in disinformation operations on social networks in order to provoke unrest. As during Donald Trump's victorious campaign in 2016, Russia denied any destabilizing activity on the internet and assured “respect the will of the American people”.
