Our latest book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses foreign influence and Trump's attack on democracy. Russia helped Trump through 2020. As Russia began its latest invasion of Ukraine, Trump lavished praise on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the following statement:
“The IC assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Local election officials have already debunked the video’s content.
This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”
The purported Bucks County video shows a person's hands opening envelopes and removing and examining the ballots inside. The person rips up ballots marked for Trump, cursing at the former president, while leaving ballots marked for Vice President Kamala Harris alone. "Vote Harris," the voice says at one point.
But the envelopes and ballots shown are not what the county uses to vote, the Bucks County Board of Elections said.
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The purported Bucks County video shows a person's hands opening envelopes and removing and examining the ballots inside. The person rips up ballots marked for Trump, cursing at the former president, while leaving ballots marked for Vice President Kamala Harris alone. "Vote Harris," the voice says at one point.Cliff Watts at Microsoft:
But the envelopes and ballots shown are not what the county uses to vote, the Bucks County Board of Elections said.
...
Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, traced the Bucks County video back to a Russian propaganda operation known as "Storm-1516", first identified by Clemson, which is known for its tactic of producing staged videos that it then launders through influencers and phony news outlets.
"The particular video about Bucks County came from an account that we were familiar with," Linvill said. "It has originated Storm-1516 narratives before."
Russian operatives continue to take steps to undermine the Harris-Walz campaign. Russian actors continue to create AI-enhanced deepfake videos about Vice President Harris. In one video, Harris is depicted as allegedly making derogatory comments about former President Donald Trump. In another from a Kremlin-aligned troll farm we track as Storm-1516, Harris is accused of illegal poaching in Zambia. Finally, another video spreads disinformation about Democratic vice president nominee Tim Walz, gaining more than 5 million views on X in the first 24 hours.
While most of these videos received minimal engagement, they underscore Russia’s ongoing use of both traditional and AI-generated content to influence U.S. audiences and stoke political discord. We have also seen some actors shifting their content publishing strategy from Telegram to X to reach U.S. audiences.
