FBI debunks online video that falsely claims 'high terror threat' at polling stations

WASHINGTON ? The FBI warned Tuesday about a fake news video claiming to be an FBI alert telling Americans to “vote remotely” due to a “high terror threat” at polling stations – and another with false claims of one political party rigging prison inmate voting.

In a statement released to USA TODAY, the FBI said it was made aware of “two instances of its name and insignia being misused in promoting false narratives surrounding the election.”

The first, the FBI said, is a “fabricated newsclip purporting to be a terrorist warning issued by the FBI.”

That fake news clip reports falsely that the FBI purportedly stated that Americans should “vote remotely” due to the high terror threat at polling stations. “This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety,” the FBI said.

Another fabricated video circulating online contains a fake FBI press release that alleges that the management of five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party.  “This video is also not authentic, and its contents are false,” the FBI said.

The FBI did not say who it thought was behind the fake videos and declined to provide additional information.

But in a joint statement released late Monday, the FBI and other U.S. election security agencies warned that Russia was ramping up its efforts "to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans."

The U.S. intelligence community "expects these activities will intensify through election day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states," said the statement by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security.

"These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials," the statement said. "We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close."

In one case, for instance, "Russian influence actors" recently posted and amplified an article falsely claiming that U.S. officials across swing states plan to orchestrate election fraud using a range of tactics, such as ballot stuffing and cyberattacks," the intelligence agencies said.

Foreign adversaries sowing partisan discord and undermining confidence

Cait Conley, the top election security official at CISA also had no comment on whether Russia or any other foreign adversary was behind the bogus videos.

But, Conley said during a press briefing, "I think it is important, while there is no attribution made in the (FBI) statement, to just remember the broader threat environment that we're in and that is we do have foreign adversaries with two objectives; one to undermine the American people's confidence in our democratic institutions, and the second is to sow partisan discord."

"And so we should expect to continue to see narratives around those types of objectives, both today and in the days and weeks ahead," Conley said.

For the most part though, foreign and domestic meddling in the election on Tuesday was minor and comprised of isolated events, said Conley, senior adviser to CISA Director Jen Easterly. She said CISA was not currently tracking any incidents of "national-level significance" that could impact voting or the outcome of the election.

"It is really important to note that election officials prepare year-round for these types of disruptive events," including the need to temporary close a polling place, relocate operations or respond to other emergencies, Conley said. "These are things that election officials routinely prepare and train for and are prepared to implement."

More: Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.

The FBI's warning Tuesday was the latest of several in recent days by U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies about efforts by foreign and domestic adversaries to post disinformation online to sway voters.

Much of that disinformation, the agencies said, is emanating from Russia as part of its campaign to boost former President Donald Trump's chances of winning the election and to smear his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed Friday they believe Russia is behind a fake but viral video of a man claiming to be a recent Haitian immigrant saying he and a friend were voting – twice – in Georgia for Kamala Harris.

“The IC assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia,” the agencies said in a statement.

More: Georgia secretary of state blames polling place bomb threat on Russians

In that earlier joint statement, the ODNI and CISA said they assessed that Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer.They did not provide details, but the site that initially shared the fake Georgia video was behind an Oct. 30 post on X falsely claiming Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff had tipped off now-indicted music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs to a Department of Homeland Security raid in March in exchange for $500,000.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI debunks video falsifying terror threat at polls