Athena Leskovics
Introduction
In August 2020, the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center released a special report that laid out the “Pillars of Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem.” Though Russia’s spreading of “fake news” to affect American politics is not necessarily new, it has become evident in recent years that the Russian government will take any measures it can in order to influence Americans and American politics to benefit their needs. Currently, Russian disinformation is especially prevalent in the United States due to the recent presidential election, which is often one of their main targets. It is not a secret that politics has become a place of contempt among the American people, acting as an easy way to generate division; Russia has been utilizing this to its advantage, infiltrating the media to escalate the division among Americans.
A Brief History of Russian Disinformation
In 2018, PBS published a piece on the long history of Russian disinformation and its targeting of Americans. Nick Schrifin, journalist and filmmaker, states that though many may associate the term “fake news” with 45th and now 47th President Donald Trump, the term has been circulating for some time. The term was initially used by the Soviet Union in reference to their disinformation campaigns that the country utilized to create chaos for their enemies in the West. One of the West’s biggest threats to security was the KGB, which acted as the foreign intelligence agency for the Soviet Union. The KGB was responsible for some of the largest original spreading of disinformation in America. Some of the most prominent examples of how the KGB used disinformation to create a negative narrative about the West include the spread of the notions that “The U.S. created Aids” and that “JFK was killed by the CIA”. The campaign that “the United States created AIDS” was launched in 1984 by the KGB’s highly funded department that focused on spreading disinformation. The campaign proved to be successful, with newspaper clippings spreading throughout 80 different countries and pushing the idea that the U.S. was the cause of AIDS. The campaign operated to spread chaos and confusion, and the effects have proved to be long-lasting. Only when President Reagan came into office did the United States government begin to develop strategies to be proactive in the spread of Russian disinformation. President Reagan created the Active Measures Working Group. Though not highly funded, the group aimed to help their fellow citizens learn the truth and raise awareness about the false narratives circulating. However, recently, the former communist country has grown more savvy with its tactics despite efforts from the U.S. government to reduce the spread of disinformation.
How Russia is Currently Causing Division in America Through Disinformation
U.S. elections are one of the main focuses of the Russian government in the hopes of spreading fallacies about political candidates and swaying the American public to vote one way or the other, which often increases party division. Given that the United States just underwent an election, many stories are circulating in the mainstream media. Some stories within the media contain a piece of Russian propaganda that attempted to push its own false narrative. Most recently, Russia utilized the two most recent hurricanes that struck the U.S. to generate unrest online. Hurricanes Helene and Milton inflicted mass destruction in the Southeast and pushed many of the victims to turn to their government officials to request help in rebuilding and recovery. This natural disaster gave Russia an opportunity to maneuver their way into American discourse by utilizing significant events that impact many Americans in order to create distrust in both the government and fellow U.S. citizens. Not only does the Russian government act to insert uncertainty into the U.S. population, but Russia also attempts to sway them to vote for a certain candidate. Propaganda ideas that have proliferated include the allegations that Haitians have been illegally voting for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and a false claim that Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, was responsible for sexually assaulting a student at the school he taught at in Minnesota. Due to the propaganda, some Americans find it difficult to discern between fact and fiction in the media, but the issue is only growing more complex with the arrival of artificial intelligence. With the recent mainstream use of AI, or artificial intelligence, it has become increasingly easier to push information out at alarming levels. In July of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with foreign counterparts, found and raided a Russian-operated bot farm that was utilizing AI in order to spread pro-Russian propaganda at high rates. The discovery of a Russian bot farm demonstrates the alarming rates at which some U.S. adversaries like Russia can transmit tailored propaganda, which would likely not be possible without this technological advancement. That leads many to question how the U.S. may attempt to counter this seemingly endless influx of false media.
How to Combat the Disinformation
The U.S. Department of Justice has taken significant steps in trying to take down Russia’s “DoppelGänger” campaign, which focuses on the promotion of Russian propaganda and infiltration of media landscapes to spread disinformation. This September, within days of each other, the DOJ announced the seizure of 32 internet domains associated with DoppelGänger and charged two Russian nationals with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the Southern District of New York. This seizure demonstrates the ability of the U.S. to stand up against foreign adversaries digitally.
However, though it is important to acknowledge the progress the U.S. has made, it is also imperative to look at how to combat disinformation. Dana S. Lafon wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations regarding how pre-bunking is a necessary process to be used with disinformation. Detecting a false narrative before it can undergo amplification may be a powerful way to combat the Russians, but some social scientists have stated in their research that simply pre-bunking may not be enough. For pre-bunking to truly have an impact, those who are met with disinformation must be presented with a new, accurate narrative that should be highly detailed in an attempt to remind the audience what exactly the new narrative is correcting. Providing Americans with undisputable, factual information and educating them on what forms Russian propaganda could take is one way to make a difference.
Conclusion
Though the dispute between the U.S. and Russia, and the weaponization of American media by Russia, is hardly a new development, there remains a long road ahead. U.S. allies, such as Europe, have implemented steps to protect its citizens. Europe enacted the Digital Services Act, which requires social media platforms to give certain individuals (such as journalists and researchers) access to the data they collect. Nina Jankowicz, the co-founder and CEO of the American Sunlight Project, which focuses on studying the threat of online disinformation, believes the United States should have taken such steps some time ago. Accountability within social media platforms, pre-bunking, and continued research are a select few strategies the United States can implement in order to protect American citizens and their freedoms.
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