U.S. officials say Russia was behind fake video of alleged voter fraud in Georgia
U.S. officials have determined Russia was behind a video that circulated online in recent days and that Georgia state election officials have labeled as disinformation.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the video, which purports to show Haitians claiming that they illegally voted for Kamala Harris, is fake and likely the work of a Russian troll farm.
In the video posted to social media on Thursday, a man claims that he and others featured in the footage are from Haiti, arrived in the United States six months ago, obtained U.S. citizenship within that time, and are voting for Kamala Harris in multiple Georgia counties.
"Yesterday, we voted in Gwinnett County, and today we're voting in Fulton County," the man says. "We have all our documents, driver's license. We invite all Haitians to come to America and bring families."
Fulton County officials told CBS News they do not have a record of a registered voter by the name listed in the driver's license. Raffensperger said his office was working with state and federal partners to determine the source and urged X owner Elon Musk and the "leadership of other social media platforms" to remove the video.
The video was posted to an anonymous X account named "AlphaFo𝕏" that has previously shared disinformation from a Russian influence group known as Storm-1516, Darren Linvill, an expert on Russian disinformation and co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, told CBS News.
Storm-1516 has been linked to other fabricated videos, including fake footage that purported to show election workers ripping up ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The group has also published videos with false claims about Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to researchers and officials.
The AlphaFo𝕏 account has since deleted the video. When contacted by CBS News in direct messages on X, the person behind the account said they received the video from a source who regularly pays them to upload content. They also said they believe the source is from Australia and that the source's account was recently suspended on X.
In a statement Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the intelligence community "assesses that Russian influence actors" manufactured the video.
"This Russian activity is part of Moscow's broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans," the statement read.
Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger added on Friday: "The Russians picked the wrong Georgians to mess with."