Who is behind the fake video of alleged voter fraud in Georgia?

The United States is once again the target of disinformation campaigns to interfere in its elections, a plague affecting nations around the world. Tactics and methods are becoming more sophisticated and easy to spread on social media.

Although they are generally the product of foreign actors, they are unfortunately amplified by “useful idiots” and even more unfortunately by malevolent actors who think it will help their cause. However, the authorities are always vigilant to identify fake information and fake videos, inform the public about them and, if possible, remove them.

The most recent case that has been identified is a fake video of a supposed Haitian man saying he voted multiple times using multiple IDs from Georgia.

Who is behind the fake video of alleged voter fraud in Georgia?

In a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this latest example of election interference has been blamed on Russian troll farms.

“(The intelligence community) is evaluating this Russian influence actors made a recent video that falsely showed people claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in several Georgia counties“, the press release states. “This determination is based on information available to CI and the prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Georgia’s secretary of state has already dismissed the video’s claims as false.”

While Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asked Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to remove the video in question from their sites, he himself posted it on his official X account. However, he explained that, “This is obviously fake and probably a production of Russian troll farms. As Americans, we cannot let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine trust in our institutions — or in each other.”

Authorities warn of more content from Russian troll farms

This was not the only example of fake videos that the Intelligence Community found that Russian influencers had circulated as “It’s part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of US elections and fuel divisions among Americans.”

Another fabricated video falsely accuses “a person associated with the Democratic presidential ticket to take bribes from an American entertainer”.

Russian troll farms are expected to continue “Create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine confidence in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”

This will happen not only in the days leading up to Election Day on November 5, but also in the weeks and months after the votes have been cast and counted. Voter fraud is extremely rare in the United States and is prosecuted as a felony.