Recent video purportedly showing a man destroying ballots marked for Trump is a disinformation campaign, say officials

Russian actors were behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said on Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.

The video, which garnered millions of views on platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sorting through mail-in ballots from the state’s Bucks county and ripping up those cast for the former president.

On Thursday, the Bucks county board of elections declared the video “fake”, saying that the envelope and other materials depicted in the footage are “clearly not authentic materials” belonging to or distributed by them.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    42
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    26 days ago

    If anyone commits actual election fraud this election, it’ll be Republicans, likely using shit like this as evidence. “They’re doing it to us, we have to do it to them!”

    • Lets_Eat_Grandma@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      26 days ago

      I kind of figured that’s been the point from the beginning. If you can’t win an election legitimately because the educated see through your bullshit, do illegal things that cannot be tracked or that is “legal” just despicable, like deregister non-republican voters and make sure your planted vote counters make sure they all seem to show up R or aren’t counted because they are “fraudulent” - because the watchers are all your people there’s nothing to be done to challenge it.

      these are the same people who have been accusing every single democrat ever of fraudulent things by any means necessary. They’ve wanted to impeach biden for “fraud” but can’t find any wrongdoing. They are also the people who attempted to create fake electoral votes to seize power after losing the popular vote.

      It’s pretty sad the legal system is bought and paid for by billionaires who have no interest in allowing the courts to actually follow the law unless it results in lower taxes and higher subsidies for them. If the judges actually did their jobs a lot more people would be in jail for election interference.

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    26 days ago

    There was a time in recent memory when you could expect leaders of both parties and major candidates to step forward and repudiate the video and America’s adversary.

    I would be surprised if Trump does not repeatedly reference this as evidence Democrats attempted to steal the election from now until his death.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    11
    ·
    26 days ago
    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


    Search topics on Ground.News

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/russia-disinformation-campaign-pennsylvania-ballots
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-elections-2024

    Media Bias Fact Check | bot support