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    • Musk is amplifying election disinformation on X. You can avoid it
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    Musk is amplifying election disinformation on X. You can avoid it

    Online Niel Posted on

    No matter how you vote, know that foreign governments who see America as the enemy are trying to influence you and will continue to do so after Election Day. Check your sources.

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    The videos have been viewed millions of times on X, that stench of misinformation formerly known as Twitter and are still posted there despite being debunked as a hoax of foreign origin trying to influence our election with lies.

    A man fraudulently impersonates a former Minnesota high school student and lobs false claims about sexual abuse by that state’s governor, Tim Walz, a former teacher and now Democratic vice presidential candidate.

    Who would do that? And why? Our electoral past is a prologue when it comes to disinformation.

    The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) recently assessed that “Russian influencers produced and amplified inauthentic content advocating illegal activity” by Walz “consistent with the influence efforts and tactics” the Russians used during this election.

    The Washington Post pursued the usurped former student in the video, who said it wasn’t him and that Walz hadn’t been his teacher.

    Elon Musk, the multibillionaire trying to buy Donald Trump’s way back at the White House, owns X and became a the very pernicious amplifier of electoral disinformation. No wonder he left the video out there for all to see.

    American voters must do two critical and patriotic things over the next nine days — vote for whatever presidential candidate you support and avoid the looming storm of misinformation. Here’s a third optional mission – ask yourself why this type of disinformation most of the time leans so heavily towards helping Trump win.

    Elon Musk leads the election disinformation. Surprised?

    This kind of nonsense comes in all sizes. The fake video about Walz has gotten a lot of national attention, but the misinformation is also aimed at the local level.

    A post on Thursday X from an account dedicated to disinformation claimed to include a video of mail-in ballots cast for Trump are destroyed in Bucks County, a major Pennsylvania county where Vice President Kamala Harris he rallied support from crossover Republican voters 11 days ago.

    law enforcement, from the district attorney to the FBIgot involved as the video racked up over half a million views online before it was deleted.

    This too was a hoax, a hoax deliberately posted to cause division. Bucks County Board of Elections issued a bipartisan statement Thursday, which condemned “this willful spread of dangerous misinformation.”

    The ODNI pronounced the video fake on Friday the work of “Russian actors” in a “broader continuing effort to raise baseless questions about the integrity of US elections and fuel divisions among Americans.”

    Opinion: Musk’s millions are an empty bid for attention as he tries to boost Trump

    David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney who founded Center for Innovation and Electoral Researchtold me that this year’s disinformation looks like “a repeat of the greatest hits of 2022 and 2020.”

    That election featured a lot of false claims about destroyed and fake ballots, dead and non-citizen voting, etc.

    “The amplification of most of this can be traced back to Elon Musk and the Twitter accounts he follows, well-known disinformation accounts, most of them parroting points that we know were spread by Russia, China and Iran Becker said.

    The Wall Street Journal just reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly two years. My standard rule about coincidences in politics has long been this – I just don’t believe in them.

    Electoral disinformation has increased since 2016

    The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center warned on Wednesday of “sustained influence efforts by Russia, Iran and China to undermine US democratic processes.” The Russians appear intent on harming Harris’ campaign, Microsoft said. The Iranians, on a smaller scale, are targeting Trump.

    A website for a Georgia state office that handles absentee ballots was the target of a failed cyber attackpossibly from abroad, which slowed down the system earlier this month, but did not affect voters or ballots.

    ODNI on Oct. 16 declassified a memo on foreign threats to our election who predicted that China, Iran and Russia will maintain disinformation and cyberattacks after the polls close on November 5 to sow division and confusion and “are likely willing to at least consider tactics that could encourage or contribute to to violent protests. “

    Opinion: In an unpredictable election, one thing is certain – Trump will lie about it

    It is entirely predictable that America’s enemies would try to influence and undermine a close election for president. I’ve seen this before in the 2016 elections.

    And Russia’s state media has been exposed last month for the flow of rubles in the income streams of three high-profile right-wing agitators/influencers who then claimed they didn’t know they were being financed with foreign money. It’s just a coincidence, I think, that their views aligned with what the Russian government wanted to hear. What’s that rule about coincidences?

    We are all, in different ways, the potential audience for this kind of misinformation. Recent polls show mixed views on the election and what comes after, depending on political party. That seems like an opening for these bad actors to exploit.

    We have to stay focused until election day

    A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found last week a very narrow race between Harris and Trump, with them practically tied. It also found that voters are largely confident in electoral processes and the people who run them. But there were clear divisions when I dug into the numbers.

    Of the 1,000 likely voters polled, 75% said they would accept the result if the candidate they support does not win. Nearly 90 percent of Democrats polled said so, while nearly 70 percent of Republicans agreed.

    A similar number said they were very or somewhat confident that the election result will be accurately counted: 93% of Democrats felt this way, and 63% of Republicans agreed.

    Confidence reverses by party when voters were asked about a peaceful transition of power and the possibility of political violence: 59% of Democrats expect a peaceful transition, while 86% are worried about violence. For Republicans, 76% expect a peaceful transition, while 49% are concerned about violence.

    No matter how you vote – Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc. – know that foreign governments that see America as an enemy are now trying to influence you and will continue to do so after election day. Check your sources. Get your information directly from state and local election officials who still have and deserve your trust.

    Avoid vibration. Don’t accept and amplify claims you see on the internet just because they are sense right for you This is the hook for disinformation. Do not swallow it.

    Follow USA TODAY election columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

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