The Biden administration announced sweeping measures on Wednesday to denounce Russian influence in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, including criminal prosecutions of two employees of a Russian state media company and seizure of internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.
With these measures, the US government wants to prevent a continuing threat from Russia. US authorities have long warned that Russia has the potential to sow discord and cause confusion among voters. Washington has said that Russia remains the biggest threat to the election, even though 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 company was unaware it was being 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 trying to influence the election with false information. The new steps show how great the US concerns are and indicate that legal action will 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 remains the biggest 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 concern about Russia revolves around cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing the November election. Tactics include using state-run media outlets like RT to spread anti-American messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and feed them into Americans’ online conversations. Typically, these networks take up polarizing political issues, such as immigrationCrime or the war in Gaza.
In many cases, Americans may have no idea 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 in 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 some of the work of creating digital propaganda while covering their tracks, the officials said during the news conference.
Two of these companies were subject to new US sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread disinformation about the Kremlin.
But the ultimate goal is to get Americans to spread Russian misinformation without questioning its origins. People trust and are much more likely to publish information they believe comes from a domestic source, officials say. Fake websites Designed to mimic US news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.
Messages left with the Russian embassy were not immediately answered.
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