Intelligence officials say US adversaries are targeting congressional races with disinformation

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 7:25 PM EDT, October 7, 2024


WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not just the presidential election: Foreign governments are targeting House and Senate races around the country in their effort to meddle with American democracy this election year, intelligence officials warned Monday.

Russia and China have launched influence operations designed to help or hurt candidates in specific congressional races. Without giving specifics about the number of affected races, an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Monday that both countries have zeroed in on races where they believe they have a national security interest at stake.

Other smaller nations may be trying their own influence operations, officials said. Cuba is “almost certainly” trying to boost candidates that the Cuban government believes would support their interests in America, according to a report on foreign election threats released Monday, roughly a month out from the election.

The warning from intelligence officials comes during a particularly tight battle for the House and Senate, where control could be decided by just a handful of races. While much of the attention has focused on attempts by foreign adversaries to influence the presidential race, Monday’s warning underscores the threat that online disinformation also poses in state and local contests.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/congress-russia-trump-china-cuba-disinformation-election-a4de250124d7cb93f16718831d0715a9

[Walleye]

1. We are not gonna get respect from foreign democracies or dictatorships if we continue to

Elect presidents that aren’t supported by a majority of the population. In fact, I would say that more than half the country hates Trump’s guts. He is trying to rape us.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. They have been taking down websites and closing their networks for years

working with foreign investigative agencies to do so. They have also gone after the purveyors like Fakebook - https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/15/politics/cambridge-analytica-fbi-doj/index.html

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook

Some of those take-downs get posted as LBN and have gotten yawn responses, but there are probably tens of thousands of of these people out there for hire, so it's like asking why haven't the cities gotten rid of all the rats that infest the sewers?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. You can go to their websites and look at their press releases of the take-downs

The press releases are for THE PRESS who refuse to do their fucking jobs.

Spoon-feeding can become tiresome.

[Blue_Roses]

5. They've been working

behind the scenes. They're not going to disclose ANYTHING that could potentially hurt this election. What they tell us is on a need-to-know basis.

[Blue_Roses]

7. In a perfect world...

change always brings about "change". We just don't always know about it at the time.

[GB_RN]

10. Oh, Noes!

I’m shocked. Shocked, I say!

[Karma13612]

11. No surprise there

Facebook* is inundated with crap.
Many of the accounts look like troll accounts.

(*As an aside, I find Facebook trolling worth the hassle. It is an invaluable tool for me to be well informed about my numerous hobbies. There is no substitute for it at the moment. I agree that FB has major issues, but I am adept at weeding out the nonsense right now. I agree there needs to be better regulation on the misinformation. For now, any chance I get to push back on the lies that are spreading, I do. )