U.S. Spy Agencies Issue New Warning on Russia’s Election Misinformation Campaign

Two recent videos have sought to undermine confidence in the security of the vote.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind a video that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.

The U.S. government issued a new warning on Friday, one that followed another video that began circulating a week ago falsely claiming that ballots in Pennsylvania were destroyed.

Officials say foreign powers are working to undermine faith in the election, and government agencies in charge of protecting the vote have said the current torrent of false claims is greater than before.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the F.B.I. released a joint statement on Friday saying the video about Haitians was the work of Russia.

Intelligence agencies wrote “that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia,” the statement said.

On Friday, a senior official from the cybersecurity agency called it a “fire hose of disinformation.”

The recent disinformation videos, the senior official added, were examples of how foreign influence operations were “deliberately undermining the American public’s confidence in American democracy.”

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, quickly denounced the video making the false claim about Georgia after it began to spread on X.

“This is false, and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Mr. Raffensperger said in a statement. “It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”

The bogus video, which amassed hundreds of thousands of views on X, showed a man claiming to be a Haitian immigrant who arrived in the United States six months ago and obtained citizenship and identification documents.

“We’re voting Kamala Harris,” the man says. “Yesterday we voted in Gwinnett County, and today we’re voting in Fulton County.”

He then shows several identification cards that look like Georgia driver’s licenses, calling on “all Haitians to come to America.” A closer examination showed that one photograph on an identification card was a stock photo. The address on the card led to an office park in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Social media users shared the video in a group channel on X created by Elon Musk’s political action committee to collect allegations of voter fraud. Darren L. Linvill, a professor and the director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, said the video appeared to be a production of a Russian operation know to researchers as Storm-1516.

“The style and production values of the video are exactly in line with what we’ve seen from them before,” Mr. Linvill said.

Similar to other fabricated videos produced by Russian operatives, the staged video shows the person’s face and does not reveal information about a location.

Mr. Raffensperger said he had asked Mr. Musk, the owner of X, to remove the false video from the social media platform. The post is no longer available.

Last week, a Russian disinformation group created and pushed a video falsely suggesting that ballots in Bucks County, Pa., had been destroyed. But local election officials quickly informed the public that the video was fake, and U.S. intelligence officials said it was the work of Russians.

Storm-1516, the Russian group, has spread a variety of videos trying to sow distrust in the election. A video created by the group earlier this year falsely accused the C.I.A. of setting up a troll farm in Ukraine to boost President Biden and Democrats.

Disinformation maligning Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, has quickly circulated. But false claims about voting irregularity have proved harder to spread, in part because they are much easier to disprove than murky claims about a candidate’s past.

As the Bucks County video makes clear, Russian disinformation groups have begun a partial shift toward election conduct. The government statement on Friday said the videos were part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”

Even with the two prominent examples of Russians seeking to undermine faith in the vote, Clint Watts, the head of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said there was overall less disinformation focused on voting irregularities than at this point in previous election cycles. That may reflect a calculation that former President Donald J. Trump could win and that emphasizing irregularities could cloud a victory.

“They don’t want to undermine an election in which maybe they get the outcome they want,” Mr. Watts said. “Maybe this time they are a bit more reserved about it.”

Intelligence officials have said that Russia favors Mr. Trump in the election. The former president’s skepticism of military support for Ukraine, which Russia invaded nearly three years ago, and his promise to force peace talks quickly have raised the stakes in the election for Russia, officials say.

Microsoft expects Russian disinformation groups to quickly create more content if the election is contested. U.S. intelligence agencies have also predicted that Russia will attempt to stoke violence after the election if Mr. Trump is defeated, or if the election is close.

Russia could undermine the public’s faith in the vote either by manufacturing false claims — like the spoiled ballots in Bucks County — or by amplifying concerns of Americans over potential voting irregularities.

Over the past few months, intelligence officials have also said that Iran has sought to intervene, favoring Ms. Harris though broadly seeking to stoke political divisions and turmoil. Iranian-backed hackers took information from the Trump campaign and tried to spread it. U.S. intelligence agencies tracked a potential Iranian assassination plot to assassinate Mr. Trump.

Ms. Harris has come out strongly against Iran, naming it as a top threat to the United States. And the Biden administration has warned Iran that any plot against Mr. Trump or attempt on his life would be considered an act of war.

“If Iran is not sure what they get with either candidate, why root for either one because it puts them in a tough spot after the election,” Mr. Watts said. “I am not sure they are convinced they get what they want out of it.”