Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI,) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI,) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have traced a video falsely portraying voter fraud in Georgia back to Russian influence actors, days ahead of the 2024 election.
What Happened: A 20-second video emerged on X, formerly known as Twitter, Thursday afternoon, showing a man claiming to be a Haitian immigrant.
In the clip, he discussed his intention to vote multiple times in two Georgia counties for Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
On Friday, the U.S. intelligence agencies identified this video as a fraudulent creation of Russian influence actors.
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the joint statement by the agencies read.
Previously, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger dismissed the video as “obviously fake” and a likely product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election,” reported the Associated Press.
Why It Matters: This incident is not an isolated one. It is part of a larger pattern of foreign interference in U.S. elections.
In September, President Joe Biden accused Russia of seeking to interfere with the 2024 election. Later that month, Microsoft Corp. vice chair and president, Brad Smith, warned of potential foreign interference in the upcoming election.
Last month, the U.S. Department of State offered a $10 million reward for information on any foreign person or entity interfering in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Around the same time, Microsoft further reported that Russia, Iran, and China were stepping up their attempts to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
Previously, it was also reported that Iranian hackers leaked stolen emails from Republican nominee Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to a Democratic political operative and independent journalists.
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