Foreign forces continue to influence U.S. elections, and in conjunction with changes in the media ecosystem and the use of new tools, audiences who are easily deceived and deceived are confused. Associated Press
The New York Times reported on the 29th,RussiaEight years after interfering in the 2016 U.S. election, foreign forces are now trying to influence American voters through more sophisticated and untraceable means, which may have serious consequences for the 2024 presidential election.
The report pointed out that U.S. intelligence officials, defense officials, technology industry and academic researchers all said that disinformation (disinformation) from overseas regions has become a persistent and evil threat, especially from Russia, China andIranforeign powers test, reuse, and deploy increasingly sophisticated means of influence; even if they influence only a small number of Americans, the outcome of a presidential election can have a vastly different impact.
U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia’s goal is to help former President Trump boost his election campaign, while Iran prefers Vice President Harris Harris, while China has no particular preference for the outcome of the U.S. election.
The report pointed out that the basic purpose of foreign forces influencing U.S. elections has not changed: to create confrontation and chaos and make U.S. democracy lose trust in the eyes of the international community. However, the methods of action have evolved considerably, in line with changes in the media ecology and the use of new tools, making them vulnerable to deception. The deceived audience was confused. The evolution of foreign powers’ disinformation methods includes:
* False information becomes ubiquitous
For example, the “Spamouflage” associated with the Chinese government used the account name “Harlan” to post tendencies pretending to be Americans on four platforms including YouTube, social networking site X, Instagram and TikTok. Conservative argument.
＊Content is more targeted than before
The new wave of disinformation campaigns not only targetsswing statesand further targeted specific constituencies, specific ethnic voters or religious groups in swing states. Researchers point out that tailored false information is more likely to be believed.
Iran has invested considerable resources in spreading disinformation targeting voters of specific ethnic groups. The website titled “Not Our War” attempts to influence American veterans, spreading information including lack of support for active duty U.S. troops, anti-American views and various conspiracy theories.
In the past few weeks, Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center has reported that fake accounts from China’s “spam army” have targeted Republican U.S. senators and representatives from Alabama, Tennessee and Texas who are running for re-election. Launch an attack.
＊Artificial intelligence (AI) drives innovation
Deepfake videos with Chinese subtitles circulated on TikTok this year, spreading false news that a Virginia Republican congressman was helping an anti-China Taiwan presidential candidate to canvass votes.
*It becomes more difficult to identify false information
Russia was exposed last month for using the digital media company Tenet Media to influence American voters, and China has organized a system of foreign influencers to coordinate propaganda.
*Tech companies are not doing enough to stop disinformation
Since the last U.S. election, Meta, Google, OpenAI and Microsoft have all scaled back their efforts to label and remove false information.
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