Russian influence operations intensified before Election Day and officials anticipate they will continue. - Poynter

At issue here: A hit-and-run coverup; sexual abuse allegations from 27 years ago; An election worker ripping up ballots; Haitians admitting voter fraud as they admitting voter fraud themselves. These were among the allegations included in videos produced by a disinformation network affiliated with Russia that presented serious allegations of election-related fraud or other acts committed before 2024 US Presidential Election. Immediately, U.S government authorities responded swiftly against these videos’ falsehoods. But experts cautioned that foreign influence operations were unlikely to end after Election Day. Former President Donald Trump declared victory early Nov. 6 and Vice President Kamala Harris extended her congratulations. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly stated that any act of malfeasance had no tangible ramifications on election infrastructure security or integrity. Two Georgia polling places were temporarily disrupted after receiving noncredible bomb threats of Russian origin, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Furthermore, FBI has linked various Russian email domains with disseminating bomb threats in multiple states; though their credibility could not be established. As election Day drew nearer, however, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint statement warning of influence operations by foreign adversaries like Russia that may increase leading up to and after Election Day. “Russia is currently our greatest threat,” according to an official statement issued. Influence actors associated with Russia are producing videos and articles intended to undercut the legitimacy of elections, create fear among voters regarding election procedures, and suggest Americans are engaging in violence due to political preferences. PolitiFact has witnessed viral videos flood social media feeds and their subsequent rise or decline depending on individual platforms’ policies against misinformation. We at PolitiFact take this responsibility seriously and work daily with experts from multiple platforms — Facebook, YouTube and others — who monitor this type of material that goes viral online. These videos portrayed Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz negatively and suggested that election security in America has fallen apart. “Russia cares deeply about this election because of their existential threat in Ukraine,” according to Clemson University communication professor Darren Linvill and reported by PolitiFact. He suggested the election disinformation campaign stemmed from Russia’s longstanding disinformation effort designed to undermine Western support for Ukraine’s civil war. With Donald Trump having expressed admiration for Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and promising to end the Ukrainian civil war within 24 hours, election results were expected to have an enormous impact on U.S.-Ukraine relations and ultimately on its duration. Melanie Smith, Director of Research of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s U.S. division, highlighted influence efforts as being part of an overall campaign strategy that extends well past elections. “They have invested significant resources into dismantling institutions here at home as well as undermining America’s international standing,” she stated to PolitiFact. Elections tend to serve as a flashpoint moment that these actors focus on, yet we must consider long-term effects as well. Here’s our overview of falsehoods attributed to Russian influence operations, specifically Storm-1516 campaign dubbed by researchers as their source. At least five falsehoods can be traced directly back to Russian operations (screenshot/X). Linvill and Warren from Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub research group claimed they were first to identify this campaign of disinformation as part of their studies of online deception. Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, an expert group which analyzes nation-state threats, quickly labeled it Storm-1516 (Microsoft uses “Storm” followed by four-digit numbers to name emerging groups of threat activity). Media Forensics Hub recorded at least 52 online narratives linked to Storm-1516 between August 2023 and Oct 3 that are believed to originate with Storm-1516. Before Election Day, some campaigns took the form of videos featuring actors telling wild anecdotes about candidates and state voting trends in battleground states. On Sept. 4, clips released online purporting to feature “Alicia Brown,” who purported to allege Harris as being involved with an incident where her car hit and fled without stopping, claimed they knew who hit them, was driven off the road after hitting her, etc. PolitiFact found this claim “Pants on Fire!.” Video clips depicted someone purporting to be one of Walz’s former students accusing the governor of sexual abuse. This video was uploaded days after an anonymous account claimed they had documents showing Walz engaged in “an inappropriate relationship” while working as a public school teacher. PolitiFact examined their posts and assessed it as false! Another video appeared online showing someone opening mail ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and torning those featuring votes for Trump out before shredding them – something PolitiFact found baseless and therefore classified it as Pants on Fire! Near Election Day, an individual made claims of coming from Haiti and that they planned to vote multiple times for Harris using various driver’s licenses – this video received PolitiFact’s Pants on Fire rating as well. On Election Day – Nov 5 – two Harris supporters were seen assaulting one Trump voter at their polling place in Wisconsin, according to social media posts circulating the day of voting. PolitiFact also classified this video as being fake news! Warren and Linvill stated in their article that this disinformation campaign can be traced to the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice or R-FBI, an affiliate of Internet Research Agency which the U.S. Justice Department found had penetrated social media platforms in an attempt to interfere with 2016 U.S. election results. Storm-1516’s tactics resembled those employed by the Internet Research Agency as well as campaigns run by Russia’s former secret police and intelligence agency during the Cold War to conceal false or misleading information, according to Linvill. “What Russia is doing now differs slightly from what was seen during past election cycles, yet remains consistent with historical activities,” Linvill noted to PolitiFact via email. Between 2016 and 2020, Russian troll accounts attempted to engage and sow discord among certain communities through fake accounts created to look authentic. Operation Infektion was an 8th Brigade campaign launched against India by KGB that featured fake Indian newspapers publishing false articles like: AIDS May Invade India that falsely suggested its source was from Maryland research facilities. Moving forward into 2024 and it has never been simpler to distribute false stories to wide audiences quickly – video is especially effective as platforms prioritize it and it can easily be shared and reposted without attribution or credit being required from its producers. “Digital technologies (email and automatic payments systems to AI) allow the whole process to be accomplished within days by just a handful of people,” Linvill explained. (Linvill and Smith describe some of Storm-1516’s tactics as follows: Reliance on fake news websites: For instance, their report claimed an incident took place from “KBSF San Francisco News”, an entity which further research revealed did not actually exist. Storm-1516’s videos take an unconventional approach by employing actors instead of Artificial Intelligence for spreading dis- and misinformation. Bucks County video, fake hit-and-run testimony and Haitians plans for multiple votes videos relied heavily on actors as evidence against Walz student. Linvill noted his team had discovered evidence showing Storm-1516 had hired West African actors. Additionally, paid influencers like “AlphaFox” initially shared voting video containing apparent Haitians with this account. CNN reported that an American resident living in Massachusetts who manages this account claimed they received $100 from pro-Kremlin propagandists for posting this video without verifying its claims first, CNN reported. CNN reported that Warren and Linvill received their offer from Russian propagandist Simeon Boikov, who has paid them approximately 10 other times, according to CNN reports. They discovered that Boikov plays an essential part in Storm-1516’s distribution network. Storm-1516’s operations “furthered confused the information environment leading up to Election Day by amplifying false narratives”, Smith noted. Linvill reported that, beginning in 2024, U.S. intelligence community increased efforts to counter Russian disinformation by rapidly and directly recognizing it when encountered, quickly taking appropriate measures if found. On Tuesday morning following video allegations about Haitians voting in Bucks County and Pennsylvania, three agencies released joint statements disputing those allegations. @ODNIgov, #FBIgov and @CISAgov released this joint statement regarding an inaccurate video depicting an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania. “Our priority has always been transparency with the American people and calling out foreign adversaries’ attempts at meddling in our elections process and infrastructure in their influence campaigns,” CISA Senior Advisor to Director Cait Conley noted during a November 5 press call. “And we remain poised to do just that. However, history shows these videos continue to flourish on X even after federal agencies shed light on their tactics,” according to an announcement issued on February 18. Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies founding Director Thomas Rid noted in an X thread on November 2 that X is an attractive platform for foreign malicious actors due to its “reportedly weak threat intelligence team, libertarian approach, and even subtle modifications such as hiding “like” accounts,” as reported on November 2. Since billionaire Elon Musk bought what used to be Twitter in 2022, safeguards designed to protect users from misinformation have either weakened significantly or were completely dismantled, giving way to abuse from bad actors attempting to spread falsehoods and conspiracies through it. Such platform changes include replacing free account verification processes with paid blue check programs. “Platforms should take an active stance against such behavior but unfortunately have shied away from fulfilling their responsibilities,” Linvill stated. “X has taken an insufficient and disconcerting (hands-off) approach since Elon Musk purchased the platform. On November 5, CBS News reported, X suspended multiple accounts associated with Storm-1516 for some unknown reason – although no explanation was offered by them.” Linvill believes Russian influence played a “minor part” in deciding the election in favor of President Donald Trump; rather it was only one factor among thousands that contributed to its outcome. He told PolitiFact on Nov. 7 in an email: “Russia’s last-days work consisted of undermining election results and sowing doubt about potential outcomes should Trump lose, which wasn’t necessary in any event; but their work doesn’t stop there; Linvill reported that since Election Day he has witnessed increased Russian activity that indicates their priorities as influence actors. Linvill pointed to Storm-1516’s Nov. 6 video depicting Ukrainians shooting and burning an object wearing both Trump’s shirt and red hat, attributing this action. “Donald must clear this mess up and stop sending them tax money,” read the caption, indicting that pro-Russian influencers had shared this video of Ukrainians shooting and burning an MAGA dummy shortly after Trump won election. Why does this matter? Because our research indicates it could be part of the Foundation for Battling Injustice’s Storm-1516 campaign and cause confusion for voters and law-enforcement agencies alike. Tess Hyre of CISA advised PolitiFact when asked for their take after Election Day about its outlook and whether earlier statements still hold. She pointed to their Nov. 4 joint statement for more clarity. Lauren Frost of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence directed PolitiFact back to an analysis from October 22 that stated the intelligence community expects foreign actors to continue engaging in activities to undermine U.S. democracy by delegitimizing democracy through influence operations until President-Elect Trump takes office on Jan 20, 2017. Linvill noted in her Nov. 7 post on Facebook: “Expect more of this,” in keeping with any successful lobbying campaign which seeks to put this issue on President Donald Trump’s agenda. PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed this fact check which was originally published by PolitiFact of Poynter Institute – you may view their sources here.