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The US accuses Russia of creating fake Haitian voter fraud videos on social media

Topline

A viral video purporting to show Haitian immigrants admitting to election fraud in Georgia was deemed fake by three U.S. intelligence agencies on Friday. The intelligence community accused Russian influencers of producing the video as part of a larger effort to stoke divisions among Americans in the run-up to Election Day.

Important facts

The video “falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti voting illegally in several Georgia counties,” said a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The video that's still on

The intelligence community said it reached its conclusion based on “the information available.” [intelligence community]” and to previous videos and disinformation activities by Russian influencers, although they did not provide details about what aspects of the alleged election fraud video caught their eye.

Georgia Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger said Thursday the video was likely produced by “Russian troll farms” and called on X owner Elon Musk and other social media app executives to remove the video from their platforms.

X told Forbes that the video and the posts resharing the video violated its civic integrity policies and that the company was “taking action” on the matter.

The Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to Forbes' inquiry about the video.

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Big number

More than 900,000. That's how many views the video had received by Friday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the intelligence community's intention to accuse Russia of producing the video.

Important background

The viral video is the latest instance of the US accusing Russia of election interference. Last month, the Justice Department reported the seizure of 32 Internet domains used by Russians to influence U.S. voters, boost support for Russian policies and reduce support for Ukraine, which has been escalating for years War with Russia. According to the New York Times, which cited internal Justice Department documents released last month, the Russians have also targeted swing voters in the states and attempted to gain access to social media forums frequented by members of the far right , to drum up support for former President Donald Trump. The U.S. intelligence community also accused Moscow of waging influence campaigns that would denigrate the Democratic Party and undermine public trust in the electoral process in the 2020 election. Russia also targeted the 2016 presidential election, sparking a bipartisan investigation into Russian election interference and an indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers accused of participating in election-related hacking campaigns.

Further reading

US imposes sanctions on Russia over interference in 2024 election (Forbes)

How Russia, China and Iran Are Interfering in the Presidential Election (The New York Times)

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