Claims that Bucks County, Pennsylvania peace officers were paid actors are false | CBS News Confirmed
With the countdown to Election Day, the CBS News Confirmed team is vetting viral claims to separate fact from fiction.
One such claim started circulating after voters in Bucks County waited in long lines trying to get on-demand mail-in ballots.
Social media users falsely claimed that two Bucks County Emergency Services officers depicted in a video were paid actors. The post claimed they were hired by the Republican National Committee as part of an effort to stage voter suppression efforts.
The video depicts the officers placing a sign outside the Doylestown administration building as the voting line wrapped around the block on Tuesday.
CBS News confirmed using online records, including information on payroll and Bucks County public releases, that the officers are active peace officers for Bucks County's Emergency Services.
"We've definitely seen a massive uptick in misinformation online, particularly over the last week," said CBS News Confirmed Executive Editor Rhona Tarrant. "Pennsylvania has been a major focus of this misinformation."
The CBS News Confirmed team is fact-checking claims that are gaining traction on social media. Tarrant said in many instances, information is posted out of context.
"Oftentimes what we're seeing is regular issues, for example, long lines, fully taken out of context and people are claiming that this may be voter suppression or voter fraud," she said. "Our team's job is to look into those claims and see what actually happened."
As Election Day draws near, Tarrant warns you to be skeptical of what you see posted.
"When you're scrolling on your feed, you see a claim, it sounds very dramatic, and it also sounds very believable a lot of the time but just pause before you take that in, or before you share it," she said. "Oftentimes the truth is just a little bit more complex."
The CBS News Confirmed team has identified several viral videos shared by accounts with a history of spreading Russian disinformation, like this fake video claiming to show election workers ripping up ballots in Bucks County.
On Friday, U.S. intelligence agencies issued a new warning on Russia's election interference campaign. The agencies concluded Russia was behind a video that began circulating on social media falsely claiming Haitians illegally voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
A joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the agencies, "Expect Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans," in the lead up to the election and months afterward.
Erielle Delzer with CBS News Confirmed contributed to this report.