{"id":118517,"date":"2024-10-26T08:40:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T01:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118517"},"modified":"2024-10-26T08:40:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T01:40:58","slug":"fbi-says-russian-actors-made-fake-video-depicting-mail-in-ballots-for-trump-being-destroyed-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118517","title":{"rendered":"FBI says Russian actors made fake video depicting mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The video had taken off on social media Thursday but was debunked within three hours by local election officials and law enforcement after members of the public reported it.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials said in a <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dni.gov\/index.php\/newsroom\/press-releases\/press-releases-2024\/4011-odni-pr-24-24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a><\/span> sent by the FBI that they believe the video was \u201cmanufactured and amplified\u201d by Russian actors. The officials said it\u2019s part of \u201cMoscow\u2019s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The information was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The Bucks County Board of Elections had identified the video as fake on Thursday, saying the envelope and other materials in the video \u201care clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by\u201d the board.<\/p>\n<p>The quick knockdown of the staged video showed how election officials <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/arizona-maricopa-misinformation-threats-2024-election-842b18122b99300abda8be984fdbd972\">have learned to move swiftly<\/a><\/span> to counter false narratives over the last four years, ever since a large swath of American voters became distrustful in the voting process in 2020. Yet the video\u2019s detailed mimicking of ballots in a key county in this year\u2019s presidential race was a wake-up call that demonstrated how committed foreign actors are to <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-china-iran-disinformation-election-ef9b5155349d496e00513e7b3bc3fc07\">undermining faith in the U.S. voting process<\/a><\/span> in the critical stretch before voting concludes.<\/p>\n<p>The video showed a person sorting through what looked like mail ballots labeled as coming from Bucks County. The person, who was Black, appeared to be tearing up ballots marked for Trump, and leaving alone ballots marked for Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers who closely study Russian foreign influence campaigns had previously connected the video to a <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-disinformation-foreign-influence-election-microsoft-7f802f9f4a0efe206fdaad29516b1f7f\">Russian disinformation network<\/a><\/span> known as Storm-1516 or CopyCop. The network has previously shared numerous <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/walz-russia-disinformation-election-harris-trump-8646b7f354df629cd5d6661ba51e7174\">videos with false claims<\/a><\/span> about Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.<\/p>\n<p>Darren Linvill, the co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who closely studies the group, said the user who popularized the Bucks County video on the social platform X had been an early amplifier of several other narratives from this network, including the first one his team ever tracked, in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The style and appearance of the latest video matches other videos from the network too, Linvill said.<\/p>\n<p>The video used a Black actor with a foreign accent \u2014 a choice that may be intentional as a way to inflame existing divisions on American soil, according to Josephine Lukito, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin who has researched Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a common strategy in fake videos originating in Russia, she said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt tends to amplify racism, right?\u201d Lukito said. \u201cThere\u2019s already this kind of groundswell of discussion about immigrants that are illegally voting or immigration broadly. Russian disinformation absolutely exploits that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the video had been debunked, the X user who popularized it deleted their original post and shared multiple posts from other accounts decrying it as fake.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Infobox\" data-module=\"\" data-gtm-region=\"What to know about the 2024 Election Today's news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP. Ground Game: Sign up for AP's weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday. AP's Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<div class=\"Infobox-items RichTextBody\">\n<p><b>What to know about the 2024 Election<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>America PAC, a super political action committee <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/elon-musk-trump-america-pac-1092522fb2abc6da346b441763e9ce04\">launched by<\/a><\/span> billionaire X owner Elon Musk to support Trump in his bid for a second term, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/america\/status\/1849564513739342137\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was among those denouncing the video<\/a><\/span> \u2014 a stark contrast to the misinformation that frequently spreads on X, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/elon-musk-x-election-voting-trump-misinformation-3479f2348f6ec47ce641ddf20fd6ce4e\">often spurred<\/a><\/span> by Musk himself. The PAC declined a request for further comment.<\/p>\n<p>There were multiple clues that immediately indicated the Bucks County video was fabricated. For example, under Pennsylvania law, election officials <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pennsylvania-decision-notes-president-senate-casey-mccormick-e11b42f87255d1dd16528b884b3e37ba\">must wait<\/a><\/span> until 7 a.m. ET on Election Day before they can begin to process ballots cast by mail and prepare them to be counted.<\/p>\n<p>Other tip-offs included the dark green color on the left side of the outer envelopes \u2014 it is actually more of a <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buckscounty.gov\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">kelly green<\/a><\/span> \u2014 and the glossiness of the inner and outer envelopes, which in reality have a <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buckscounty.gov\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">matte finish<\/a><\/span>. Plus, none of the envelopes in the video had voters\u2019 return addresses written on them.<\/p>\n<p>Citizen complaints from across Bucks County and a call from the Yardley Borough police chief alerted District Attorney Jennifer Schorn that the video was circulating online. Schorn was in a pretrial conference Thursday and when she emerged she saw the calls about the video pouring in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImmediately at that point, we began investigating the video and made our ultimate conclusion that it was, in fact, fabricated,\u201d she said in a phone interview Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Schorn was reluctant to describe how authorities reached their conclusion, citing concerns that subsequent fraudsters could improve their tactics. She said her office has assigned two attorneys to screen allegations of fraud and that they\u2019ll be on \u201c24\/7\u201d on Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>Both Republicans and Democrats in the county called the video out as bogus and expressed concern about how it could affect the election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo us, this is disinformation, aimed at scaring voters and dissuading them from using mail-in ballots or on-demand voting that uses the same mail-in ballot process,\u201d the Bucks County Republican Committee <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BucksGOP\/posts\/pfbid02TJMB43ZTkYpTgSVt4BSAw8Ds5sYS9m5fKiJUU14rMY6kY2vJbx5yKfiYmbqkZKCDl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in a statement<\/a><\/span>. \u201cWe have seen dirty underhanded tactics this year, from the defacing of signs, letters threatening Trump supporters, and now this video trying to scare Bucks County voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania Sen. Steve Santarsiero, chair of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, called the video an attempt to \u201ccast doubt on our vote by mail system and, ultimately, the outcome of the Presidential Election\u201d <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BucksDemocrats\/posts\/pfbid0pBGh4SxgwqhADnMYPrRWK5RxjLvWpeFtegiQ1wbwyuBsaj9MiCcptyAM8DcKeXicl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in a statement<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said they were heartened by the speed with which this disinformation and some other harmful falsehoods have been caught during this election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t at all blame Americans for wanting to be reassured that the system can be trusted,\u201d Schorn said. \u201cI don\u2019t blame that because, sadly, you know, there are criminal entities out there that do undermine processes. I felt reassured yesterday. I felt like it worked the way it was supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___ The Associated Press\u202freceives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP\u2019s democracy initiative <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/press-releases\/2022\/ap-announces-sweeping-democracy-journalism-initiative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/span>. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/misinformation-fact-check-trump-ballots-destroyed-pennsylvania-d75fdc56c71d77c7a48d8fca96b03288\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed on Friday. The video &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118517\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}