Russian actors made fake video of mail-in ballots burning

U.S. officials said that Russian actors made the fake video showing mail-in ballots marked for former President Trump burning in Pennsylvania which circulated this week. 

“The IC [Intelligence Community] assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities,” the officials from the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a joint statement released on Friday. 

The video, which went viral on social media, was debunked by Bucks County, Pa. election officials on Thursday. It showed a Black person going through and ripping up Trump ballots. 

The county’s election officials said that the envelope and materials in the video were not authentic and that the video was “fake.” 

“This type of behavior is meant to sow division and distrust in our election systems, and makes a mockery of the people working incredibly hard to ensure a free and fair election is carried out,” the Bucks County Board of Elections said in a bipartisan statement, adding that they condemn the attempt to deceive voters. 

U.S. officials said on Friday that the video “is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates.” They added that the intelligence community expects Russia to put out content that is intended to sow doubt in U.S. elections. 

Bucks County’s election board, including chair Bob Harvie, vice chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Gene DiGirolamo, said they reported the video to the county’s district attorney’s office, the FBI, Pennsylvania’s Department of State and the state’s attorney general. 

The incident comes as campaign strategists across the aisle have expressed concerns about deepfake videos potentially being the October surprise, particularly with the rapid development of artificial intelligence. 

“The threat here is, from a candidate perspective, that once something gets out there, it’s really hard to unlearn it for voters, even if it’s not true. … We think it’s going to be very difficult to get social media companies to crack down,” Joshua Graham Lynn, the CEO and co-founder of RepresentUs, said.