The Biden administration announced sweeping measures on Wednesday to denounce Russian influence within the upcoming U.S. presidential election, including criminal prosecutions of two employees of a Russian state media company and seizure of web domains utilized by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.
With these measures, the US government wants to forestall a unbroken threat from Russia. US authorities have long warned that Russia has the potential to sow discord and cause confusion amongst voters. Washington has said that Russia stays the largest threat to the election, although the FBI is investigating a hacking attack on Donald Trump’s campaign team by Iran and an attempted break-in into the campaign team of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
A criminal case accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state-funded media company designated as a foreign agent by the Justice Department, of secretly funding a Tennessee-based content production company to release nearly 2,000 videos containing Russian propaganda. The defendants, who remain at large, used false identities and the corporate was unaware it was getting used by Russia.
In addition, Russian authorities announced the seizure of 32 Internet domains that the Kremlin used to spread Russian propaganda and weaken global support for Ukraine.
According to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the measures are related to Russia’s use of state media to recruit unsuspecting American influencers to spread propaganda and disinformation.
Intelligence agencies had previously accused Russia of attempting to influence the election with false information. The latest steps show how great the US concerns are and indicate that legal motion can be taken against those allegedly involved.
“Today’s announcement underscores the lengths some foreign governments will go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But those foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering in and undermining free and fair elections.”
In a speech last month Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia stays the largest threat on election integrity and accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his proxies of using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations. They are targeting specific groups of voters and voters from swing states to manipulate the results of the presidential and congressional elections. They intend to co-opt unsuspecting Americans on social media to spread narratives that advance Russian interests.”
Much of the priority about Russia revolves around cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns aimed toward influencing the November election. Tactics include using state-run media outlets like RT to spread anti-American messages and content, in addition to networks of faux web sites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and feed them into Americans’ online conversations. Typically, these networks take up polarizing political issues, resembling immigrationCrime or the war in Gaza.
In many cases, Americans may don’t know that the content they see online either originated from or was amplified by the Kremlin.
“Russia is taking a whole-of-government approach to influencing elections, including the presidential election,” an official within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said during a news conference this summer. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office.
Kremlin-linked groups are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms in Russia to outsource among the work of making digital propaganda while covering their tracks, the officials said in the course of the news conference.
Two of those firms were subject to latest US sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the 2 Russian firms created fake web sites and social media profiles to spread disinformation concerning the Kremlin.
But the last word goal is to get Americans to spread Russian misinformation without questioning its origins. People trust and are way more more likely to publish information they imagine comes from a domestic source, officials say. Fake web sites Designed to mimic US news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are only two methods.
Messages left with the Russian embassy weren’t immediately answered.
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