Russian actors made fake videos of ballot burning

U.S. officials said Russian actors created the fake video showing mail-in ballots marked for former President Trump being burned in Pennsylvania that circulated this week.

“The IC (Intelligence Community) assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video falsely depicting an individual tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and past activity of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. ,” officials from the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a joint statement. statement released Friday.

The video, which went viral on social media, was debunked by Bucks County, Pennsylvania, election officials on Thursday. It showed a black person going through and tearing up Trump’s ballots.

County election officials said the envelope and materials in the video were not authentic and that the video was “fake.”

“This type of behavior is intended to sow division and distrust in our election systems, and makes a mockery of the people who work incredibly hard to ensure free and fair elections,” the Bucks County Board of Elections said in a bipartisan statement. statementadding that they condemn the attempt to mislead voters.

U.S. officials said Friday that the video is “part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke division among Americans, as detailed in previous ODNI election updates.” They added that the intelligence community expects Russia to release content intended to sow doubt in the US elections.

The Bucks County Board of Elections, including Chairman Bob Harvie, Vice Chairman Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Gene DiGirolamo, said they reported the video to the county’s district attorney’s office, the FBI, the Pennsylvania Department of State and the Attorney General of the state.

The incident comes as campaign strategists across the aisle have indicated to assure about deepfake videos that could potentially be the surprise of October, especially given the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

“The threat here, from the candidate’s perspective, is that once something gets out, even if it’s not true, it’s very difficult for voters to unlearn. … We think it will be very difficult to get social media companies to crack down,” said Joshua Graham Lynn, the CEO and co-founder of RepresentUs.

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