FBI Alerts Public to Fabricated Election Videos

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a caution regarding two fabricated videos disseminated online, which are designed to generate skepticism concerning the US presidential election. This alert represents the most recent in a succession of warnings from senior officials. BBC Verify uncovered evidence connecting these videos to a broader operation originating in Russia, responsible for creating hundreds of deceptive pieces of content targeting the election over recent months. Through a post on X published on Saturday, the FBI indicated that the two videos were disseminating unsubstantiated claims regarding ballot fraud and targeting Doug Emhoff, who is the spouse of Democrat candidate Vice-President Kamala Harris. These fabricated videos, which falsely claim to originate from the FBI and display the bureau’s emblem, did not garner substantial viewership from genuine users on X. The FBI’s statement affirmed: “These videos are not authentic, are not from the FBI, and the content they depict is false.” The statement further added: “Attempts to deceive the public with false content about FBI operations undermines our democratic process and aims to erode trust in the electoral system.” The material within these clips, as detailed by the FBI, corresponds precisely with videos identified by BBC Verify since the beginning of the year. These are part of a collection exceeding 300 items discovered during an investigation carried out in collaboration with the online research firm Logically. The videos employ persuasive graphics and textual elements to mimic content from US government bodies and over 50 news organizations, such as the BBC, France 24, and Fox News. These videos have been uploaded online almost daily for several months, with a recent emphasis on the US election. This includes segments disseminating unsubstantiated assertions about Harris and communications concerning civil unrest and “civil war.” CheckFirst, an online analytics firm located in Finland, conducted an independent inquiry into the network responsible for these videos and traced their origin to a Russian marketing agency and a Russian IP address. Guillaume Kuster, CheckFirst’s chief executive, stated: “We can link the operation to Russia thanks to some assets that we know were produced by a Russian company.” He added: “The other source of evidence is a data set we got access to that proves that one of the machines that was used to send emails [by the group] was located in Russia.” Furthermore, videos generated by this operation have seen extensive distribution across Russian-language Telegram channels. CheckFirst determined that the aesthetic, messaging, and thematic elements of the videos are consistent with other operations linked to the Kremlin, a conclusion supported by BBC Verify’s research. Nevertheless, the identities of those managing the operation and whether it receives funding from the Russian government remain unknown. The Russian embassy in Washington issued a statement asserting that claims of election interference by the country are “baseless.” The embassy’s statement continued: “All insinuations about ‘Russian machinations’ are malicious slander, invented for use in the internal political struggles in the United States.” Based on X’s metrics, the clips have accumulated tens of thousands of views, yet they are disseminated by accounts possessing minimal followers and generate very few comments. These indicators suggest that the view count is being artificially boosted by fraudulent “bot” accounts. The FBI refrained from commenting on the specific operation, though the bureau, in conjunction with other agencies, has released two additional warnings recently concerning influence networks connected to Russia. On Friday, a joint statement from three US agencies—the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency—asserted that a widely circulated video, which “falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti” casting votes, was created by “Russian influence actors.” Last week, intelligence agencies reported that a video, which purported to show a poll worker destroying mail-in ballots designated for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, was “manufactured and amplified” by Russians.