US officials warn of powerful foreign actors attempting to cause chaos after November election

Amid all the chaos at home, officials have warned Americans to stay vigilant as foreign actors stick their fingers into the nation’s nuclear political climate.

If you thought it was bad in 2020, buckle up.

Foreign efforts to undermine American democracy are expected to persist beyond Election Day, with US intelligence officials warning of ongoing attempts to sow chaos among the nation.

The issue of legitimacy in the vote-counting process has become a hot-topic issue in the US following Donald Trump’s loss in 2020. Fervent MAGA supporters have continued to trash what they believe was a sham election, with sceptics on the fringe already encouraging Americans to believe the upcoming result will be similarly rigged.

But it’s not just red-hat-wearing, red-blooded Republicans responsible for all the rhetoric. Nefarious overseas interests see value in the slow but sure degradation of American political discourse and have made moves to influence hysteria.

According to US officials, adversaries see particular potential for 2024’s close presidential race to erode trust in election integrity and encourage the deterioration of US morale.

Fervent MAGA supporters have continued to trash what they believe was a sham election in 2020.

Ask any political analyst in the US, and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: America is more divided than ever, with the extremes on both the left and right utterly convinced the other side is destroying the country.

But amid all the hubbub at home, Washington is warning of the dangers of overseas interests sticking their beaks in and manufacturing chaos during election time.

Intelligence agencies are particularly concerned about foreign actors amplifying domestic concerns about voting irregularities or manufacturing their own.

“Fake News” was bad in 2016, but it’s rapidly got a whole lot worse with the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence. Using the power of easy-to-access generative models, nefarious tricksters are now able to create realistic videos of just about anyone saying anything. After a bit of digging, becomes pretty clear these videos are fake.

But to your average Joe scrolling aimlessly, the videos can sometimes be convincing.

All it takes is a fake AI CCTV video of “officials” dumping ballots into a bin, or a false “radio snippet” of an election worker admitting fraud to spark a wildfire.

Russian state media and Kremlin-friendly groups have repeatedly distributed claims of voting fraud in the US despite being put in the crosshairs following the election eight years ago.

Nevertheless, Russian powerbrokers believe it is in their best interests to weaken American resolve. Promoting domestic chaos at election time is just one of the fast tracks towards instability.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) recently highlighted the risk of foreign powers continuing their influence campaigns as we edge closer to November 5.

“Foreign influence actors will likely take advantage of the post-election period to question the integrity of the election process,” the ODNI said.

‘Foreign influence actors will likely take advantage of the post-election period to question the integrity of the election process.’

The image displays a teenager reading shocking news on his cell phone as he is lying on a couch in the dark.

Russia and Iran are both focused on the presidential vote, while countries like China, Cuba, and Russia are reportedly attempting to influence various congressional races to their benefit.

China’s efforts reportedly target candidates critical of Taiwan, while Russia is supporting candidates, primarily Republicans, who are sceptical of US sending millions in aid to Ukraine.

Despite foreign attempts to meddle, US officials have claimed that hacking voting systems remains extremely difficult due to the localised nature of elections.

Instead, foreign powers rely on what intelligence officials call “perception hacking,” where false narratives about voting system vulnerabilities are spread to undermine confidence in the results.

One anonymous intelligence official spoke to US media this week, revealing there has been a massive increase in suspicious activity from China in recent months.

“We’ve continued to see actors ramp up their activities as we get closer to Election Day,” the official said via Voice of America.

The nifty interferers allegedly “recognise that individuals are already voting and operations can have a greater impact as we get closer.”

Beijing has previously denied involvement in meddling in the US, which would violate its foreign policy of noninterference.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, furiously rebutted those claims, describing it as “groundless speculation”.

“China is not interested in the US congressional elections, and we have no intention and will not interfere in it,” he said.

“Meanwhile, we hope that the US side will not make accusations against China in the election.”

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have been proactive regarding the threat, releasing public warnings about potential foreign attempts to spread disinformation around the voting process.

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona recently told CBS News that a significant amount of political content seen on social media is foreign, estimating that up to 30 per cent of posts could come from countries like Russia, Iran, or China.

Another study put out in may by Cyabra, a company that claims to use artificial intelligence to identify fake accounts, claimed that roughly 15 per cent of tweets praising Donald Trump were from fake accounts. Simultaneously, around 7 per cent of tweets praising Joe Biden, the study said.

These posts sometimes come from accounts that claim to be American citizens, with fake biographies and pictures to make them look legitimate at a glance.

In one instance, Russia covertly spent $10 million to spread Kremlin-friendly messages through influential conservative commentators on Tenet Media.

While Australia doesn’t experience the same laser-level focus on our elections, Aussies should keep their eyes peeled whenever something online seems a little inflammatory for its own good.

“Carol from Bundaberg” might just be someone sitting in a Moscow basement.

Originally published as US officials warn of powerful foreign actors attempting to cause chaos after November election