Russian actors have created fake videos showing Trump ballots being destroyed, the FBI says

YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) – Russian actors created a widely circulated video falsely depicting ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials said Friday.

A video showing mail-in ballots for Trump apparently being destroyed in a Philadelphia suburb quickly took off on social media Thursday afternoon.

U.S. officials said in an FBI statement that they believe the video was “manufactured and enhanced” by Russian actors. The officials say it is part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US elections and stoke division among Americans.”

The information was released in a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) – A video showing mail-in ballots for former President Donald Trump apparently being destroyed in a Philadelphia suburb quickly took off on social media Thursday afternoon.

Immediately afterwards came cries of election fraud.

But within three hours, Bucks County election officials protested the video and identified it as fake.

“The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections,” a statement said. Released by the board on Thursday.

This last claim regarding a key province is an example not only of efforts to sway voters in the final weeks of a contentious election, but also of how election officials have learned over the past four years to take quick action to combat false narratives.

Since 2020, distrust in the voting process has taken hold among many Americans, creating an additional challenge for state and local officials who must not only administer elections but also repeatedly explain and emphasize the safeguards put in place to protect the vote .

Election officials across the country have spent the past few years in preparation for the onslaught of false claimsfrom conducting worst-case scenario tabletop exercises to strengthening emergency procedures in law enforcement agencies to publishing proactive fact-checks on their websites. Many have also increased transparency with the public and opened their doors to full-access tours, hoping this will prevent some of the most damaging conspiracy theories.

The Bucks County video isn’t the only case where this work has paid off. When AI-generated robocalls aimed at Democratic voters in New Hampshire Days before the January primary, state authorities quickly issued statements and began investigations, which ultimately led to criminal charges and fines for the responsible person.

Disinformation experts say the Bucks County video signals a trend likely to increase in the days leading up to Election Day — insidious disinformation, sometimes from foreign sources, that aims to undermine public confidence in the election process.

This particular video is “almost certainly” connected to one Russian disinformation network known as Storm-1516 or CopyCop, according to Darren Linvill, the co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who has closely studied the group.

The user who popularized the video on X was an early amplifier of several other stories from this network, he said. These include a fake video that spread earlier this month making baseless accusations against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. The user also amplified the very first story following Linvill’s team from Storm-1516, in August 2023.

The style and look of the latest video is consistent with other videos from the network, including the use of a black actor, Linvill said.

That has long been a trend in fake videos from Russia, said Josephine Lukito, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin who has researched Russian disinformation. She said the use of a black actor with an accent in the video is intentional as a way to stoke existing divisions on American soil.

“It tends to reinforce racism, right?” Lukito said. “There is already a huge discussion going on about immigrants voting illegally or about immigration in general. Russian disinformation is absolutely taking advantage of that.”

After the video was debunked, the X user deleted his original post and shared multiple posts from other accounts, labeling it as fake.

America PAC, a super political action committee launched by billionaire X owner Elon Musk will support Trump in his bid for a second term was among those who denounced the video – a stark contrast to the misinformation that often spreads on often fueled by Musk himself. The PAC declined a request for further comment.