A video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant voting multiple times in the US state of Georgia, has been called out as “targeted disinformation”, with social media platforms urged to remove the video.
The clip, which has already been widely viewed online, shows a man claiming to have citizenship despite moving from Haiti to the US just six months ago.
In the clip, the man also claims to have several state-issued identification cards, meaning he could vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the state’s multiple counties.
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To be a US citizen, you must be a lawful permanent resident for a minimum of five years. Only US citizens are allowed to vote in presidential elections.
Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, called the clip “obviously fake” and said it was “likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
Federal agencies have also called out the clip, including The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
On Monday, former Biden disinformation adviser Nina Jankowicz joined Nat Barr on Sunrise to explain the clip and its ramifications for the election.
“Tell us what these videos actually show us,” Barr asked.
“(This shows) an alleged Haitian migrant who says that he is excited to vote multiple times for Kamala Harris, both Brad Raffensperger and the US intelligence community have said not only is this fake it has been manufactured by Russia,” Jankowicz said.
“Russia also last week created a video that showed people destroying ballots allegedly in the state of Pennsylvania, another swing state. This was also attributed to Russian intelligence services.”
“Do people believe it’s fake? Do people believe the videos?” Barr asked.
“I think lot of folks, because of how polarised we are right now, they don’t believe what the intelligence community is telling them. They say, ‘You’re just shilling for the Biden Administration’,” Jankowicz said.
“And before the intel community came out and attributed these videos, they got millions and millions of views on social media, gaining a lot of traction and a lot of amplification. So, yeah, I think people do believe them, some of us.”
Barr asked: “Russia is doing this, they’re Russian bots. Is it like a bot factory? What happens here?”
“Back in 2016, we found out about the Internet Research Agency, the infamous troll farm, we think Russia probably has a lot of these installations not only in Russia but other countries where they pay for them for hire. We know a former US sheriff is being paid by Russia to create these fake narratives. It is a very complex operation,” Jankowicz explained.
“Would it take (X owner) Elon Musk to take these down?” Barr asked.
“Elon Musk would need to take them down a lot quicker,” Jankowicz said.
“I think he is doing the opposite, amplifying and engaging with this stuff … (It) acts as a veritable fire hose of disinformation for both foreign and domestic (actors) as we head towards Tuesday.”