U.S. authorities have confirmed that Russia is responsible for a recent video, which has been widely shared online, deemed as misleading by Georgia state election officials. The video falsely suggested that Haitians had voted unlawfully for Kamala Harris. Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, dismissed the video as fraudulent, suggesting it’s likely the product of a Russian internet troll factory.
In the contentious video, posted on social media last Thursday, a man alleges that he and the other individuals featured in the footage are Haitians who arrived in the U.S. six months ago, gained citizenship within this period, and voted for Kamala Harris in various Georgia counties. “We voted in Gwinnett County yesterday, and we’re voting in Fulton County today,” the man asserts in the video, adding, “We have all the necessary documents, including a driver’s license. We encourage all Haitians to migrate to America and bring their families.”
U.S. intelligence agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) corroborated in a Friday statement that Russian influencers had fabricated the video. The video falsely depicted people claiming to be Haitians voting illegally in several Georgia counties. They also emphasized that Raffensperger’s office had determined these claims to be untrue.
The statement added, “This Russian activity aligns with Moscow’s wider efforts to raise unfounded doubts about the credibility of the U.S. election and fuel divisions among Americans.” Raffensperger revealed that his office is collaborating with state and federal partners to identify the source of the video and urged Elon Musk and other social media platform leaders to remove the video.
Darren Linvill, a Russian misinformation expert and co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, told CBS News that the video bears striking resemblance to past videos released by a Russian influence group, Storm-1516. According to Linvill, the video was shared on an anonymous account that has previously disseminated Russian misinformation. Storm-1516 is known for producing other counterfeit videos, including one falsely claiming to show election workers tearing up ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The group has also released videos containing false allegations about Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as per researchers and officials.
This article was contributed to by Robert Legare and Nicole Sganga.
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Article by Erielle Delzer.
