US officials say Russians behind fake 'Haitian Voter' video

US intelligence agencies say “Russian influence actors” are behind a suspected fake video of a Haitian man claiming to have voted “multiple times” in Georgia.

The 20-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on X and other social networks, shows two men in a car who claim to be Haitian.

One says they received U.S. citizenship within six months of arriving and voted for Kamala Harris in Gwinnett and Fulton counties in Georgia. They encourage other Haitians to come to the United States.

The BBC has found clear evidence, including false addresses and archive photos, that suggest the video is fake.

In a statement, three US security agencies said the video “Misrepresented people claiming to be from Haiti” and was made by “Russian influence actors.”

“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader efforts to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and to stoke divisions among Americans,” said the joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Clemson University researchers said the video bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation called Storm-1516.

“This narrative is consistent with what we have seen from Storm-1516, particularly in recent weeks as they have turned their full focus to the U.S. election,” Clemson’s Darren Linvill said.

“We should not be at all surprised that they are focused on undermining the integrity of US elections.

“This is consistent with Russian strategy in the last two election cycles.”

Linvill said the video's “narrative focus, style and production” are consistent with previous efforts by the Russian operation, which Clemson researchers say is linked to an organization called the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice.

The organization was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who led the Wagner Group until he launched an uprising against Moscow and died in a plane crash.

Georgia's chief election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, said the clip was “Fake and part of a disinformation effort”.

He called on X owner Elon Musk and owners of other social media platforms to remove the video.

A man in the clip shows several driver's licenses into the camera, presumably as proof of identity. BBC Verify took screenshots of this and enhanced the images to be able to read the details on them.

The addresses on two of the licenses match a commercial area and a location in the middle of a street near a gas station – not residential addresses.

A reverse image search of the photo on one of the licenses revealed that it was a stock image of a man, originally produced by a production company in South Africa.

US intelligence agencies said last week that a video purporting to show a poll worker in Pennsylvania destroying mail-in ballots for Donald Trump was “fake and amplified” by Russians.