US officials say Russians faked 'Haitian voters' video
- Published
US intelligence agencies say "Russian influence actors" are behind a suspected fake video of a Haitian man who claims to have voted “multiple times” in Georgia.
The 20-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on X and other social networks, shows two men in a car claiming to be Haitian.
One says they obtained US citizenship within six months of arriving and have voted for Kamala Harris in Gwinnett and Fulton counties in Georgia. They encourage other Haitians to come to the United States.
The BBC has found clear indications, including false addresses and stock photos, which indicate the video is a fake.
A screenshot from the fake video
In a statement, three US security agencies said that the video "falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti", external and was made by "Russian influence actors".
"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," said the joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The Russian embassy in the US said the accusations were "baseless", adding that Russia "has not and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries" in a statement on Telegram.
But researchers at Clemson University said that the video bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation known as Storm-1516.
“This narrative is consistent with what we’ve seen from Storm-1516, especially in recent weeks since they’ve turned their focus squarely on the US election,” said Clemson’s Darren Linvill.
“We should absolutely not be surprised that they are focused on undermining the integrity of the US election.
“This is consistent with Russian strategy over the last two election cycles."
Linvill said the "narrative focus, style and production of the video" match previous efforts by the Russian operation, which is linked, Clemson researchers say, to an organisation called the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice.
The organisation was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who headed the Wagner Group until he launched a rebellion against Moscow and died in a plane crash.
Georgia's chief elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, said that the clip is "fake and part of a disinformation effort", external.
He asked X owner Elon Musk and owners of other social media platforms to remove the video.
One man in the clip shows multiple driving licences to the camera, presumably as proof of identity. BBC Verify took screenshots of these and enhanced the images to be able to read the details on them.
The addresses on two of the licences match up to a business site and a location in the middle of a road near a petrol station - not residential addresses.
A reverse image search of the photograph on one of the licences showed it was a stock image of a man originally produced by a production company in South Africa.
US intelligence agencies said last week, external that a video purporting to show a poll worker destroying mail-in ballots marked for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania was "manufactured and amplified" by Russians.
