Feds identify two more Russian election disinfo attempts, say Iranian campaigns remain a threat
U.S. officials on Monday exposed two more pieces of Russian election disinformation, hours before millions Americans cast their ballots in the too close to call presidential race.
The latest statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also warned that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections.”
The statement, the fourth issued by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies in this election cycle and third in less than two weeks, shows how officials are scrambling to keep pace with a surge on viral, phony information online and social media, especially the platform known as X. The agencies cited one article and one video that made false claims about election integrity.
“We are in an election cycle with an unprecedented amount of disinformation,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said Monday during a media briefing. “There is a firehose of disinformation that the American people have been subjected to, continue to be subjected to, and the way that we are dealing with that is to ensure that, as much as possible, we can flood the zone with accurate information.”
The election eve statement cited a recent video that falsely depicted an interview with a person claiming election fraud in Arizona. It also highlighted an article posted by Russian influence actors that claimed officials in presidential swing states intend to commit mass voter fraud.
Russia “is the most active threat,” U.S. officials said, adding Moscow-linked actors are “manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences.”
“We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close.”
On Iran, the agencies brought up Tehran’s malicious activity during the presidential contest thus far, most notably hacking former President Donald Trump’s campaign and stealing data to leak to the media. The Justice Department in September charged three Iranian hackers over that breach.
U.S. intelligence officials previously stated Tehran’s intent is to act as a “chaos agent” and use disinformation to incite violence, even after Election Day.
The country’s clandestine community has assessed that Russia favors Trump’s candidacy, due to his opposition to Ukraine aid, while Iran backs Vice President Kamala Harris, believing she would be more likely to lower tensions in the Middle East.
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Martin Matishak
is the senior cybersecurity reporter for The Record. Prior to joining Recorded Future News in 2021, he spent more than five years at Politico, where he covered digital and national security developments across Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He previously was a reporter at The Hill, National Journal Group and Inside Washington Publishers.