US accuses Russia of using state media to spread disinformation ahead of November election

Washington. Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced a sweeping crackdown on Russian influence in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, including unsealing criminal charges against two employees of a Russian state media company and seizing websites used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.

The measures, which included sanctions and visa restrictions in addition to the indictments, were an effort by the U.S. government in the weeks before the November election to disrupt the persistent threat from Russia, which U.S. officials have long warned could sow discord and confuse voters. Washington has said Moscow, which intelligence officials say favors Republican Donald Trump, remains a major threat to the election, even as the FBI continues to investigate an Iranian hack earlier this year that targeted the presidential campaigns of both political parties.

“The message from the Department of Justice is clear: we will not tolerate attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

One criminal case unsealed by the Justice Department accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state-owned media company, of secretly funding the Tennessee-based content company with nearly $10 million to publish English-language videos on platforms like TikTok and YouTube with messages that furthered Russian government interests and agendas, including the war in Ukraine. The videos have been viewed millions of times.

The Justice Department says the company, whose identity has not been released, failed to disclose that it was funded by RT and failed to register as an agent of a foreign principal, a legal requirement.

In the second action, officials announced the seizure of 32 Internet domains that the Kremlin had used to spread Russian propaganda and undermine global support for Ukraine. The websites were designed to look like legitimate news sites but were in fact fake.

While the Justice Department did not identify which specific candidate the campaign was promoting, internal strategy memos released Wednesday make clear that Trump and his campaign were the intended beneficiaries.

Intelligence agencies have previously accused Russia of using disinformation to try to interfere in the election. The new steps underscore the depth of U.S. concerns and signal legal action against those suspected of involvement.

“Today’s announcement underscores the lengths to which some foreign governments have gone to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But those foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors deliberately interfering in and undermining free and fair elections.”

In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remains the single greatest threat to election integrity, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies of using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations, including “targeting specific voter demographics and constituents in key battleground states in an effort to manipulate the results of presidential and congressional elections.”

“Their goal is to enlist unwitting Americans on social media to promote narratives that favor Russia’s interests,” she added.

She made a similar comment on Thursday, telling an Aspen Institute event in Washington that the threat from foreign influences is more diverse and aggressive than in previous years.

“More diverse and more aggressive because they involve more actors from more countries than ever before, operating in a more polarized world than ever before, all of this fueled by more technology and accelerated by technology like artificial intelligence, and that’s what we’ve exposed in the law enforcement actions we’ve taken today,” she said.

Much of the concern about Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing the November election. Tactics include using state-owned media outlets like RT to promote anti-American messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify those claims and inject them into Americans’ online conversations. Typically, these networks focus on polarizing political topics like immigration, crime, or the war in Gaza.

In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either comes from the Kremlin or is amplified by it.

“Russia is using a whole-of-government approach to influence elections, including the presidential race,” an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said at a briefing this summer. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with policies worked out with the office.

In a meeting with journalists, officials said Kremlin-linked groups are increasingly hiring Russian marketing and communications firms to handle some of the work of creating digital propaganda while covering up their tracks.

Two such companies were the subject of new U.S. sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.

The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origins. People are much more likely to trust and republish information they believe comes from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic U.S. news outlets and social media profiles generated by artificial intelligence are just two methods.

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