Biden announces sanctions against Russia and Iran for interference in US election

Additionally, the Iranian cyber group that Microsoft tracks as Cotton Sandstorm has been actively targeting election-related websites and media outlets, suggesting preparations for more direct influence operations as Election Day approaches.

Russian agents, according to Microsoft, focused their measures on damaging the Harris-Walz campaign. “Russian agents continue to create AI-enhanced deepfake videos about Vice President Harris,” the company said at the time.

In one video, Kamala Harris is depicted allegedly making derogatory comments about former President Donald Trump. In another, from a Kremlin-aligned troll farm tracked as Storm-1516, the candidate is accused of poaching in Zambia.

In a September report, US authorities stated that several foreign adversaries had already posted numerous deepfakes on the Internet. Russia used them most, spreading “conspiratorial narratives” and amplifying “issues that divide the US, such as immigration”, in order to help Trump and harm Democrats.

In a recent article, The New Yorker magazine revealed how past American governments went wrong in dealing with external interference in their elections. According to the publication, since July 28, 2016, when the CIA director began briefing President Barack Obama about the Kremlin plot to help elect Donald Trump, Obama has decided not to warn the public before Election Day about the full extent of the Russian conspiracy, fearing it could undermine Hillary Clinton’s widely expected victory.

“This, it seems, was the wrong concern,” highlighted the magazine, based on interviews with experts and former agents. U.S. intelligence agencies waited until two months after Trump won to expose the sweeping scale of the Russian operation.