Securing Democracy Dispatch

ASD’s Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson and Senior Fellow Bret Schafer will join World Affairs Council Pittsburgh for an in-person discussion of threats to the 2024 US presidential election and lessons in resilience from around the world. Join us on September 25 and find out more here!

The US Department of Justice’s sweeping crackdown on Russian interference last week underscores a hard truth: American efforts to combat foreign malign influence have not deterred the country’s adversaries—and their methods are evolving as they create faux news websites or exploit American voices, Research Assistant Krystyna Sikora writes.

While the influencers that were part of a media company that accepted Russian funds were “unwitting” participants in Russia’s influence operation, “they were targets for a specific reason”, Senior Fellow Bret Schafer told DW News. In addition to some having expressed anti-Ukrainian opinions, Russia saw them as “divisive” and “influential”, Senior Fellow Bret Schafer told NBC News.

The scandal highlights that the online political influencer market “is ripe for interference”. Campaigns must protect themselves by learning more about the people with whom they work, Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson told Campaigns & Elections.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• US Presidential Debate: Russian state media and government officials provided substantial coverage of the US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova called it “irrelevant”, equating the United States with the Titanic “15 minutes before [it hit] the iceberg”. An RT opinion piece referred to the debate as a “degenerate political show”, though it saved its most scathing comments for Trump, whom it called a “cause and symptom of the decline of the American Republic”. While most Russian state media articles admitted that Kamala Harris won the debate, several took shots at her, with one article featuring an interview with an American psychiatrist who claimed that Harris “hid her imposter syndrome” during the debate and that it was the psychiatrist’s hope that there would be future debates “to expose more of [Harris’] sinister plans for America”. One Sputnik News article claimed that neither candidate could be considered the winner because the “only winners [of the debate] were the donors, the Military Industrial Complex, the bankers, big pharma, and, of course, the Zionists”.
• Accusations of Voter Fraud: Last week, Sputnik News ran an extensive piece titled “How to Steal an Election: US Conservatives Expose Democrats’ Playbook Ahead of 2024 Vote” that single-sourced accusations from a RT regular and noted conspiracy theorist that alleged that Harris’ approval rating is “deliberately inflated by [the] polls and corporate press”,  that drop boxes “allow fraudulent ballots…to be counted as legitimate votes”, and that “dead people” and “illegal aliens” will be allowed to vote in November, among numerous other accusations of malfeasance. This follows a similar, although less inflammatory, article in July, in which Sputnik, again citing dubious US sources, cast doubt about the integrity of mail-in-ballots. 

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week: 

• US Presidential Debate: PRC state media’s coverage of the Trump-Harris debate was largely factual, with even the nationalist tabloid Global Times simply writing that both candidates were “trading barbs”. Xinhua was the most opinionated outlet, with a tweet suggesting that Trump and Harris might “both (…) be losers” and another highlighting the acrimony in the debate by showing the number of times each candidate accused the other of lying. CGTN Europe noted the Kremlin’s displeasure with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name being “bandied around” as well as Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris. The PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs was very cautious to insist that the elections are “the United States’ own affairs”, while still signaling opposition to “making China an issue in the US elections”.
• FOCAC Concludes: The 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), during which Beijing hosted officials from 53 African countries, ended last Friday. The PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson summed it up by highlighting Beijing’s initiatives like the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and by aspiring to “correct historical injustice”. PRC embassies in African countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya promoted the summit online and in the local press. In addition, PRC embassies and consulates in Europe also promoted the main pledges that came out of the summit, relayed PRC leader Xi Jinping’s keynote speech, and showed African journalists touring China.

Trump repeats challenges 2020 falsehoods, questions integrity of 2024: During this week’s US presidential debate, former President Donald Trump repeated his false assertions that he won the 2020 US presidential election and suggested that Democrats were trying to register newly arrived undocumented immigrants to vote in 2024 and raised questions about the move to replace President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket. Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson told the Dispatch, “More than 67 million people watched the first—and likely only—presidential debate between Harris and Trump, making it the candidates’ largest single audience before election day. It’s notable that former President Trump used that opportunity to not only repeat well-trodden falsehoods about the 2020 election, but also to lay the groundwork for narratives that he could use to question the legitimacy of this year’s election, should he lose. One narrative of particular concern is that of “non-citizen voting”, which combines the hot-button issue of immigration with voter fraud. For the record, it’s illegal for non-citizens to vote in presidential elections and there is no evidence of widespread fraud. We need to bring down the temperature around election administration as we begin early voting and remember that the focus shouldn’t be on perfect elections—possible but unlikely in a human-run process—but elections in which mistakes are caught and corrected quickly and transparently.” 

N.H. secretary of state releases videos series to educate voters about cybersecurity: Days before New Hampshire’s primary election on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s office released three videos to help inform voters about different election cybersecurity threats, including content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), phishing, and misinformation. Research Assistant Krystyna Sikora said, “With influence campaigns becoming more sophisticated and widespread, it is more important than ever that voters themselves can identify and defend themselves against election information threats. Basic media cybersecurity hygiene practices and media literacy have been proven to be one of the best strategies in preventing people from being duped online, and more states should both create and magnify education campaigns and public resources that hone these skills.”

In Case You Missed It

• A network of at least 19 “news” and “analysis” websites linked to the Iranian government have targeted US minority and veteran communities with content largely about US protest movements, some of which was generated using artificial intelligence.
• The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published a checklist outlining how state and local officials can protect election infrastructure ahead of the 2024 US elections, including websites and networks containing voter registration information.
• YouTube shut down several channels linked to Tenet Media after a US government indictment revealed that two RT employees had funneled money to the media company.
• In a new poll, 64% of Americans say they do not trust AI chatbots to offer reliable and factual information about elections.
• Russia has become more likely to sabotage Norway’s oil and gas infrastructure than a year ago as it mounts a sabotage campaign in Europe, the head of Norway’s foreign intelligence service told Reuters.

Russian Influence Operations on the US Presidential Election. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer interviewed on CNN

Putin trolls U.S. presidential race, saying he favors Harris. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer interviewed on CNN

DOJ accuses U.S. media company of sowing Russian disinformation. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer interviewed on FOX 5 DC

Russia’s latest election interference target: U.S. influencers. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer interviewed on Politico Tech’s podcast

Experts applaud US steps to disrupt Russian disinformation. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer quoted in Voice of America

Trump Vs Harris: Presidential Candidates Prepare For High-Stakes Debate. Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson interviewed on NDTV

AI & Democracy: Unveiling the impact in elections. Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson interviewed on Friends of Europe’s Policy Voices podcast

As Donald Trump sows doubt in US elections, officials in Sonoma, Napa counties gear up for Nov. 5. Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson quoted in The Merced Sun-Star

“Because of what has now been years of false election claims and ideological attempts to discredit our voting systems and processes, much of the heightened awareness of elections is now colored by conspiracies, misinformation and, frankly, outright lies.”

—Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico Secretary of State, said at a US House Administration Committee hearing on September 11.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.