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Russia being blamed for fake Georgia voting video
Four days away from Election Day, United States intelligence officials say several videos circulating on social are tied to international efforts to disrupt Tuesday’s election. One of those videos is directly tied to Georgia. The video has been seen numerous times as early voting comes to an end Friday in the Peach State.
ATLANTA - A video circulating online that allegedly shows a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who allegedly claimed to have voted multiple times was created by foreign actors, U.S. intelligence officials reported on Friday.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which have been closing monitoring external influences on the 2024 presidential election, released a joint statement about the video.
"The IC assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia. This judgment is based on information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. The Georgia Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claims as false," the statement read.
The statement further detailed that Russian influence actors also produced a video falsely accusing a person linked to the Democratic presidential ticket of accepting a bribe from a U.S. entertainer. According to the agencies, these activities are part of Moscow’s wider strategy to cast doubt on the integrity of U.S. elections and sow discord among American citizens.
"In the lead up to Election Day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans," the statement concluded.
In a firm response, Raffensperger wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, "The Russians picked the wrong Georgians to mess with."
Georgia Secretary of State responds to Russian video
In a firm response, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, "The Russians picked the wrong Georgians to mess with."
Gabe Sterling, a senior Georgia elections official, reiterated the findings, stating that federal authorities have confirmed the video’s origins as part of a Russian disinformation operation. "Anyone sharing it now knows this," Sterling added.
Thursday evening, he also took to X calling the video "false" and described it as part of a "targeted disinformation" campaign aimed at disrupting the election.
"This is false, and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election," Raffensperger said. "It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election."
He also made a direct appeal to social media leaders, including Elon Musk, to remove the video from their platforms.
"We ask Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms to take this down. This is obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort," he said, expressing his belief that the video may be the work of Russian troll farms.
Emphasizing the importance of national unity, Raffensperger urged the public not to let misinformation erode trust. "As Americans, we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine our faith in our institutions – or each other," he said.
As of Friday, when early voting ended, more than half of eligible voters in Georgia had already cast their ballots for the 2024 presidential election.