Russia is relying on unsuspecting Americans to spread misinformation about the election, US officials say
WASHINGTON: The Kremlin is turning to unsuspecting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread misinformation about the U.S. presidential campaign, senior intelligence officials said on Monday, describing the latest efforts by America's adversaries to influence public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.
The warning comes after a turbulent few weeks in U.S. politics that forced Russia, Iran and China to revise some details of their propaganda maneuvers. What hasn't changed, intelligence officials say, is those countries' determination to seed the internet with false and inflammatory claims about American democracy in an effort to undermine confidence in the election.
“The American public should know that the content they read online – especially on social media – could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to come from fellow Americans or originated in the United States,” said an official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules established by the director's office.
The biggest threat in the area of election disinformation remains Russia, the authorities said, while there are signs that Iran is expanding its efforts and China is treading cautiously ahead of the 2024 elections.
Kremlin-linked groups are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms based in Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while covering their tracks, the officials said during the news conference.
Two of these companies were subject to new US sanctions in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread misinformation about the Kremlin.
The disinformation may focus on the candidates or the election, or on issues that are already the subject of debate in the United States, such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.
But the ultimate goal is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origins. People trust and are much more likely to publish information they believe comes from a domestic source, officials say. Fake websites mimicking U.S. news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.
In some cases, Americans, as well as American technology companies and media, have willingly amplified and parroted the Kremlin's messages.
“Foreign influencers are getting better and better at hiding their activities and getting Americans to do it,” said the official, who spoke alongside FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials.
Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed concern last month that the U.S. could be more vulnerable to foreign disinformation this year than before the 2020 election. On Monday, he said the warning from intelligence officials showed that the U.S. election was “targeted by bad guys around the world.”
“It also disturbingly underscores the extent to which foreign actors – and Russia in particular – rely on both unwitting and knowledgeable Americans to promote foreign-aligned narratives in the United States,” Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement.
One measure of the threat is that officials who track foreign disinformation say they have issued twice as many alerts to political candidates, government leaders, election offices and others targeted by foreign groups so far in the 2024 election cycle as they did in the 2022 election cycle.
Authorities declined to say how many warnings were issued or who received them, but said the sharp increase reflected heightened interest in the presidential election by America's opponents and increased government efforts to identify and warn about such threats.
The warnings are issued so that victims can take steps to protect themselves and set the record straight if necessary.
Russia and other countries are also trying to exploit recent developments in the presidential election campaign, including the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the race and replace Vice President Kamala Harris.
After the attack on Trump, for example, Russian disinformation services quickly amplified the claim that Democrats' rhetoric led to the shooting. Or they even spread baseless conspiracy theories that Biden or the Ukrainian government had orchestrated the attack.
“These pro-Russian voices sought to link the assassination attempt to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine,” concluded the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which tracks Russian disinformation.
Intelligence officials have previously concluded that Russian propaganda appeared to be aimed at supporting Trump. On Monday, they said that assessment had not changed.
Undermining support for Ukraine remains one of the main goals of Russian disinformation. Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past and is considered less of a NATO supporter.
While China launched a large-scale disinformation campaign ahead of Taiwan's recent election, the country has been much more cautious about the U.S. Beijing could use disinformation to attack congressional races or other lower-ballot elections where a candidate has expressed strong views about China. But China is not expected to try to influence the presidential election, the officials said Monday.
Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the United States, said on Monday that his government had no intention of interfering in U.S. politics.
Iran, however, has taken a more aggressive stance. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said earlier this month that the Iranian government had secretly supported American protests against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Iran-linked groups had posed as online activists, called for protests and provided financial support to some protest groups, Haines said.
Iran is opposed to candidates who are likely to escalate tensions with Tehran, administration officials said. That description fits Trump, whose administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of a high-ranking Iranian general.
Messages left with representatives of the Russian and Iranian governments were not immediately answered on Monday.
