Georgia Secretary of State: Haitian immigrant voting video is likely Russian disinformation – Greg Otto

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said a video posted on X and other social media sites depicting a supposed Haitian immigrant using multiple Georgia state IDs to cast ballots is “false” and “likely foreign interference.”

“This is false, and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Raffensperger said in a statement Thursday night. “It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”

Raffensperger said federal investigators at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are looking into the incident and attempting to trace the origin of the video, which he said was “likely the production of Russian troll farms.”

He also specifically pleaded with X owner Elon Musk to remove the video.

“In the meantime, we ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down. This is obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort,” Raffensperger said.

A CISA spokesperson told CyberScoop that the agency “is aware of the alleged Russian disinformation post, and we are working with federal government partners to investigate further,” adding that it is “also aware of the Georgia Secretary of State Office’s response to the video assessing it to be fake.”

U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia is the most active foreign government seeking to influence the 2024 presidential election and that their aim is to help Trump, denigrate Vice President Kamala Harris and more generally undermine confidence in U.S. democracy.

Disinformation campaigns, troll farms and AI-generated content have been the primary tools wielded by Russia-aligned groups in this effort, as well as recruiting witting and unwitting American citizens to push Kremlin-friendly narratives, including through conservative influencers.

While some of those initiatives, such as content pushed out through Tenet Media, received widespread exposure and reach to online audiences, much of the content generated by Russian troll farms have received very little engagement.

Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, called the video “classic disinformation.”

It “isn’t even that good of a fake … but it is fake. It is a lie,” Sterling wrote on X Thursday. “Please let anyone you know that this is a steaming pile of Russian … well you get it.”

Intelligence agencies have warned that Russia, Iran and China may all seek to spread chaos leading up to Nov. 5 and throughout the post-election period as states tally vote totals and seek to certify election results. The Georgia video comes less than a week after the government and third-party researchers traced a fake video depicting the destruction of ballots in Bucks County, Pa., to Russian influence actors. 

Georgia was subjected to rampant disinformation during Trump’s failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and officials there have been weathering a steady stream of false or deceptive claims about election administration in the state since.

They are also, like other states, facing preemptive accusations of widespread voter fraud and noncitizen voting as Trump’s campaign has argued he can only lose the race through cheating.

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