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FBI warns that fake videos using its name, insignia are spreading election misinformation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it was aware of two instances of its name and insignia being used to spread misinformation surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
The videos were among a number of fabricated clips mimicking news organizations and officials circulated online on Monday, spreading false information about security threats and election integrity as tens of millions of Americans head to the polls. The videos were likely created by a Russian disinformation group, researchers say.
Two videos, created to look like they were released by the FBI, made false claims about voter fraud, alleging that the management of five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, had rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party. The videos are not authentic, and their contents are false, the FBI said.
Other fabricated videos have been shared in recent days. One fabricated video, created to look like a report from CBS News, falsely said the FBI was advising people to “vote remotely” due to a potential terror attack. No such warning has been issued by U.S. officials and no such report has been produced by CBS News. The account that posted the video on the social media platform X was suspended on Monday afternoon.
“This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety,” the FBI said in a statement Tuesday.
Another video was fabricated to look like it was produced by Fox News.
The videos were likely created by the same Russian disinformation group that released two additional fabricated FBI videos in recent days, according to Antibot4Navalny, a collective of researchers that tracks online Russian disinformation.
The group has a history of mimicking international news outlets and U.S. government entities. Many of their posts include QR codes that link to legitimate news outlets to make the posts appear authentic. The group published similar false claims about threats ahead of the Olympics.
“Election integrity is among our highest priorities, and the FBI is working closely with state and local law enforcement partners to respond to election threats and protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote,” the FBI said Tuesday. “Attempts to deceive the public with false content about FBI threat assessments and activities aim to undermine our democratic process and erode trust in the electoral system.”
Senate elections live balance of power for 2024
There are 34 Senate seats up for election in 2024, and Democrats are facing strong headwinds as they seek to defend their narrow 51-49 majority. Heading into Election Day, Republicans appeared to have an edge in several races that could determine control of the Senate.
Senate elections live results map for 2024
Democrats are facing a particularly difficult map this cycle, fighting to hold seats in two states Trump won in 2020. In another six states, Democratic incumbents are in tight races, while only two Republican-held seats are considered possible pickup opportunities for Democrats.
If history is any guide, one stock market gauge suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
In all but two elections since 1944, the party in the White House has retained power when the U.S. stock market advances before Election Day, or the period between the end of July and Halloween, according to an election predictor devised by Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In 2020, the S&P 500 fell 0.04% from July 31 to October 31, with then-President Donald Trump losing the election to President Joe Biden. While the outcome in the 2024 election is not yet known, the S&P 500 rose 3.3% during that three-month span this year.
To be sure, many other factors can influence a presidential race, and Wall Street is no stranger to making wrong predictions, ranging from the direction of the stock market to election outcomes. And betting markets that allow average investors to place wagers on the election outcome have in recent weeks favored Trump.
“You can say there is sort of an overlap — the market usually goes up on an annual basis and voters tend to give the incumbent the benefit of the doubt, so it makes sense if the market goes up most of the time and the incumbent gets re-elected most of the time,” Stovall told CBS MoneyWatch.
Even more reliable are periods when the stock market falls during the period from July 31 to October 31, in which case the incumbent has been replaced 89% of the time. That predictor failed only once, in 1956, according to Stovall, pointing to the year when incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson, despite the S&P 500 tumbling 7.7% in the period ahead of the election.
Still, Stovall notes a mathematician might scoff at basing a model on such a limited sample, in this case the 21 presidential elections held in the U.S. since World War II.
“Is this really statistically significant? I think the answer is no, but it makes for interesting copy,” the strategist said. “You can have data tell whatever story you want.”
Limited or not, Stovall is sticking with his presidential predictor.
“I believe we will see a Harris victory ultimately, because I’m a very big believer in history and rules-based investing,” Stovall told CBS News.
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