{"id":68367,"date":"2024-10-24T16:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=68367"},"modified":"2024-10-24T16:00:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T23:00:47","slug":"foreign-adversaries-are-threatening-us-elections-with-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=68367","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Adversaries Are Threatening US Elections With Disinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner told reporters at an EMS news briefing that Russia, China, and Iran have been spreading deep fakes through social media at warp speed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia. (Flickr photo, Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Voters in the US are facing down a barrage of disinformation from nefarious foreign actors, fueled by sophisticated artificial intelligence, said Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner, Oct. 22, at an\u00a0Ethnic Media Services news briefing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur adversaries, China, Russia, Iran in particular, have realized it is effective and cheap to spread misinformation and disinformation at a greater level than before,\u201d said Warner, a Democrat who represents Virginia in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Tim Walz kerfuffle<\/h2>\n

Earlier this month, a video posted to X accused Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz of sexually abusing a male student. Within minutes, the post went viral, generating 5.3 million hits.<\/p>\n

In the video, a man named Matthew Metro claimed that Walz, a former school teacher, sexually assaulted him when he came out to him as gay. In a separate live-stream on the social media platform Rumble, another man accused Walz of abusing him when he was a student in the Foreign Leadership Exchange program.<\/p>\n

Storm 1516<\/h2>\n

A\u00a0statement<\/u><\/a>\u00a0from the US Director of National Intelligence attributed both posts to the work of Russian agents. Several news agencies identified the posts as the work of Storm1516, a Russian propagandist group.<\/p>\n

At the news briefing, Warner lauded the intelligence community for getting word out quickly on the Walz deep fake.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia wants to undermine (Democratic presidential nominee Kamala) Harris. Iran wants to undermine (Republican Presidential nominee Donald) Trump. China is more focused on non-national issues and not at the presidential level as much,\u201d said Warner. \u201cThese are sophisticated adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post election manipulation<\/h2>\n

The Senator said he was increasingly concerned about foreign manipulation post election, such as deep fake technology being used to create an artificial image of an election official appearing to destroy ballots.<\/p>\n

Such fears are heightened given the closeness of the presidential race and potential delays in announcing the winner, creating opportunities for bad actors to\u00a0sow doubt about the eventual outcome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russia has used AI to interfere in previous US elections, said Warner. In 2016, much of the disinformation targeted Black voters. In this election cycle, Russia has targeted the Latino and Jewish communities for deep fakes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see something on the internet that doesn\u2019t seem right, take a deep breath and please don\u2019t amplify something that may be misinformation generated by a foreign service,\u201d said Warner, who then took questions from ethnic media reporters. A few appear here, edited for brevity. The entire news conference can be watched below.<\/p>\n

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