Microsoft Warns Election Disruption from China, Russia & Iran Will Only Increase

• Microsoft has warned once again that China, Russia, and Iran will increase their disruptive efforts as the US elections come into fruition.
• The tech giant believes that these foreign adversaries are trying to influence the election results in their favor.
• China and Iran have outright denied all the allegations while Russia has yet to comment.

Microsoft has warned that rival countries such as China, Iran, and Russia are continuing their pursuit of disrupting the US elections.

Since the beginning of the year, we have seen reports of how certain groups are using AI tools like ChatGPTand social media platforms to spread misinformation and influence the election's results.

Now that the US election is just two weeks away, Microsoft has reported that these groups have doubled their efforts.

How Are Different Countries Trying to Influence the US Elections?

Let's take a closer look at the malicious actions of various countries with respect to the US elections.

Russia

Russia's main focus has been sabotaging Kamala Harris. It's quite clear that it wants Donald Trump to win the presidency.

So, in its pursuit, Russia has created several groups that spread false information about Harris to slander her character. They're also attacking her running mate, Tim Walz, to tarnish the overall image of their campaign.

Plus, when text and images alone were not helping, Russia leveled up its game with fake videos. There's one video that shows a park ranger accusing Harris of shooting an endangered rhinoceros in Zambia. However, in reality, the said park ranger was an impersonator.

Even worse, some of these fake election videos have also been used to spoof reputed US news organizations such as Fox News and Wired Magazine.

China

China is more concerned about the down-ballot contests and is trying to create a general state of distrust among the people for their leaders and authorities.

For example, one popular Chinese influence group called Spamouflage has been using fake social media posts to target all down-ballot Republicans who publicly slandered China (the US-China relationship is not the best at the moment - take the Intel-China fiasco, for example).

This includes Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama, and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas.

The posts ranged from accusing the candidates of corruption and making anti-semitic comments to simply favoring their opposing candidate.

Iran

Unlike Russia and China, Iran doesn't seem to have a solitary goal. It spent the majority of 2024 slandering Donald Trump. In fact, in August, one of the groups even managed to hack Trump's presidential campaign.

On the other side, certain Iran-linked groups have been trying to influence US voters to sit out this year's election owing to their government's lack of support in the Israel-Hamas war.

A well-known Iranian group Sefid Flood was also found impersonating social and political activist groups to reduce people's trust in political leaders as well as in the entire election process.

Similarly, another group called Peach Sandstorm went on a password-hunting mission and was able to successfully compromise the account of an unnamed county-level government official.

Read more: US Presidential Election betting concerns: crypto whales & votes from across the pond

What Does Iran, China, and Russia Have to Say About This?

Every single one of them denied the allegations, calling them baseless and unfounded.

Despite mounting evidence, Iran's representative in the United Nations made a statement saying, Having already unequivocally and repeatedly announced, Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the US election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations."

The Chinese Embassy said that elections are a domestic affair of the United States and China has no business or intention of meddling with it. It also called all the accusations against it malicious" and made it very clear that it firmly opposes it. Russia has yet to make a comment.

Despite what the governments say, Microsoft continues to warn that before November 5 (the election date), the disruptions are expected to double. The entire election process as well as the final outcome are equally at risk of being manipulated.

So, it's high time that the authorities amp up security, especially in digital spaces to prevent cyberattacks. Also, considering that the most common weapon used by these groups is false information, fact checking remains essential for early detection of malicious activity.

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